Farmers See a Promising Future with KingaKUU Cassava
July 3, 2025
When we talk to Lilian Ziro, she has just arrived home from one of her friends’ farms, in
KingaKUU represents a turning point for cassava farming in East Africa. It addresses a long-standing agricultural challenge while offering a sustainable pathway to economic empowerment and food security. With KingaKUU, the future of cassava farming is brighter, ensuring better protection, improved yields and higher income for farmers across the region.
One of VIRCA project’s groundbreaking achievements is the development of a CBSD-resistant cassava, also known as KingaKUU cassava. Developed through a combination of conventional breeding and modern biotechnology, KingaKUU exemplifies the use of cutting-edge tools to address real-world agricultural challenges.
The Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) project, launched in 2008, aims to improve cassava harvests in East Africa. The project is now poised to deliver improved cassava varieties with durable resistance against cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) and cassava mosaic disease (CMD), empowering farmers with a sustainable solution to enhance productivity and resilience.
Cassava farming in East Africa has been severely impacted by cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), a destructive condition that can result in up to 100% yield loss in severe cases. This persistent threat has left many Kenyan farmers with insufficient produce for their families and the market.
The sustained decline in yields has driven farmers to reduce or abandon cassava cultivation, exacerbating food insecurity in the region. Cassava’s resilience to drought and its suitability for arid and semi-arid areas make it a crucial food security crop. Presently farmers do not have access to varieties with durable resistance to CBSD. KingaKUU cassava brings a solution to this challenge.
VIRCA project has addressed the challenge of CBSD through development of KingaKUU cassava. This breakthrough was achieved using a combination of conventional breeding techniques and modern biotechnology. KingaKUU has been rigorously evaluated for more than eight years in field trials across Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. KingaKUU cassava combines resistance to CBSD and CMD, plus all other farmer-preferred charateristics, and is suitable for all cassava-growing regions across East Africa.
The new KingaKUU varieties are poised to safeguard yields, increase earnings, and enhance food security. They are grown just like any other cassava – no special inputs are required. KingaKUU planting materials will be readily accessible through cassava seed entrepreneurs (CSEs), ensuring farmers across the region can obtain quality planting materials with ease. With KingaKUU, the future of cassava farming is brighter, ensuring better protection, improved yield and higher income (Mazao Bora, Pesa Mfukoni) for farmers across the region.
VIRCA Plus project is developing disease resistant and nutritionally enhanced cassava varieties that will empower African smallholder farmers and improve health status of consumers.
When we talk to Lilian Ziro, she has just arrived home from one of her friends’ farms, in
Mr. Cosmas Mole has been undergoing training on cassava seed entrepreneurship through the VIRCA project for two years.
Hesitance to adopt key biotechnologies could compromise Kenya’s food security and leave it paces behind other countries that
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