ICOAST-AGRICULTURE-FOOD-RESEARCH-CASSAVA

A lab technician checks in vitro cultures of cassava (manioc), in a research centre on cassava, on June 27, 2018 in Bingerville, as part of the West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) project. - Researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop "Ebola" -- a viral disease that could destroy the region's staple food and condemn millions to hunger. Their big enemy: cassava brown streak virus disease (CBSD), a pathogen that strikes cassava, or manioc, which in some of the region's countries is consumed by as many as 80 percent of the population. The West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) project, a multi-million-dollar scheme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, gathers six countries from West Africa -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Togo -- as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP) (Photo credit should read SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images)