DOUNIAMAG-ICOAST-AGRICULTURE-FOOD-RESEARCH-CASSAVA

Women select cassava tubers (manioc), on a production site of "attieke", a side dish made from cassava, in Affery, on June 18, 2018. - 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. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP) (Photo credit should read SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images)