Two years age, Africa lost more than half its cassava crop — a key source of calories — to the Mosaic virus!

Cassava is vulnerable to a broad range of diseases caused by viruses . Among them, cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is the most severe and widespread, limiting production of the crop in sub-Saharan Africa. 

CMD produces a variety of foliar symptoms that include: 

Misshapen and twisted leaflets, and an overall reduction in size of leaves and plants

CMD-affected cassava plants produce few or no tubers depending on the severity of the disease and the age of the plant at the time of infection.

Cassava field with a mixture of healthy and infected plants. Cuttings from plants affected by cassava mosaic disease show disease symptoms soon after planting and serve as a source of inoculum for whiteflies to spread the disease to neighboring plants.