this is the Agriculture Report.Cassava is an important crop in some countries.More than 160 million people across Africadepend on the plant for food or to earn money.The continent produces 60 percent of the world's cassava crop.The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizationreported last May that cassava productionhas increased by 60 percent worldwide since 2000.Agricultural experts had been expecting itto grow even more during the next ten yearsas policy makers begin to understand the crop better,but those expectations have been crashed.The amount of cassava being grown in east and central Africais falling because of diseases that reduce production.Two such diseases of the cassava brown streak virusand cassava mosaic virus,they are wrecking Africa's agricultural lands.The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says,brown streak disease does more damagesince it affects the root of the crop.Luca Alinovi is the acting director of the FAOin eastern and central Africa.He says the agency has taken steps to improve the situation,but it is not getting better."Doing right or wrong on cassava has a huge impacton the food security of the people in this region,has such a relevance in our daily livesthat we tend to forget itbecause it appeared in a kind of technical discussion.And I want to bring to your attention that,although it is a technical issueit requires knowledge and requires research."Dominique Davoux heads the European Union Rural Developmentand Agricultural program in Kenya.He says the cassava diseases have changed over the years,he says there is need to invest in research to fight the diseases."We supported the cassava initially,there has been stop in the support,the research slugged behind,and the disease reinvented itself propagated again.We have to re-address the issue."The FAO says at least $100 million is needed.Some of the money would go to support clean farm production,collect information and study the diseases.The rest will go to market and micro-finance developmentacross the cassava production chain.Experts say failure to do so means the cassava diseasewill likely invade Nigeria,the biggest producer of cassava in Africa.And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.You can download transcripts and MP3s of all of our programsat our website, 51voa.com.You can also find captioned videosat the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube.更多听力请访问51voa.com