Govt concerned over the Cassava Brown Streak Disease

Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi says government is concerned with the Cassava Brown Streak Disease because it poses major challenges to cassava production.

Mr Mbozi says the disease can causes losses of up to 100 percent in susceptible varieties and is a major constraint to cassava production in East, Central and Southern Africa.

In a speech read on his behalf by Director of Agriculture Dr Chizumba Shepande a media orientation workshop on the Cassava Brown Streak Disease organized by Dziwa Science and Technology Trust (DSaT) held at the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute ZARI in Lusaka today, Mr Mbozi says the biotic threats posed by the disease must be controlled in order to protect both the farmers and the cassava industry.

He has implored the media to play their critical role of information dissemination on Cassava Brown Streak Disease in order to promote sensitization on the disease.

Speaking at the same event, DSat Director Veronica Mwaba said she hopes the training will raise awareness on the cassava disease in an effort to eradicate in Zambia.

Earlier, Ministry of information and media Permanent Secretary Kennedy Kalunga stressed the need for the media to disseminate factual information.