Technological Innovations for Improving Cassava Production in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Cassava is crucial for food security of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. The crop has great potential to contribute to African development and is increasing its income-earning potential for small-scale farmers and related value chains on the continent. Therefore, it is critical to increase cassava production, as well as its quality attributes. Technological innovations offer great potential to drive this envisioned change. This paper highlights genomic tools and resources available in cassava. The paper also provides a glimpse of how these resources have been used to screen and understand the pattern of cassava genetic diversity on the continent. Here, we reviewed the approaches currently used for phenotyping cassava traits, highlighting the methodologies used to link genotypic and phenotypic information, dissect the genetics architecture of key cassava traits, and identify quantitative trait loci/markers significantly associated with those traits. Additionally, we examined how knowledge acquired is utilized to contribute to crop improvement. We explored major approaches applied in the field of molecular breeding for cassava, their promises, and limitations. We also examined the role of national agricultural research systems as key partners for sustainable cassava production.

Keywords: QTL mapping; association mapping; cassava; genome-editing; genomic selection; innovations; marker-assisted selection.