For its first phase in Côte d'Ivoire, the InnoDiv project will be implemented only on the coconut palm.
We initially proposed to add also cassava because of four main reasons:
1) When implementing the ReproCrop project in 2015, I was initially planned to distribute only coconut seedlings; but many farmers from both Grand Bassam and Grand Lahou region asked us about new varieties of cassava produced by CNRA - so we changed our initial plans and we decided to give both 4 coconut seednuts and 4 cassava branches to each of the 304 interviewed farmers.
2) We thougth it was useful to study another crop as a comparison to the coconut palm. Cassava is cultivated in the same zone, it reproduces differently than the coconut palm, and it is an annual crop.
The phytoplasma responsible of coconut Lethal Yellowing Disease was recently found on cassava; so cassava was well the best candidate to be used as a comparison crop for coconut palm. We still miss information regarding the specificities of LYD in Cassava (which varieties?).
3) One of the main difficulty of the InnoDiv project is to sep up a organisational design that will allow to distribute and follow 20,000 seedlings to about 1000 farmers. Once this organisation is set up for the coconut palms, it seems very rentable to use it also for cassava. In the interest of farmers, this will allows a considerable saving of resources and an economy of scale.
4) It could be possible to implement a "two step strategy", saying to all or to parts of farmers: "we give you now coconut seedlings, but when we will come back to see what are the survivals, we will also bieng you some cassava".
An important question was: is there another Firca research project dealing with cassava and lethal yellowing? At this time we tried without success to get a reply from cassava researchers.
