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Cassava is the principal staple root crop, providing a major source of calories for rural and urban households in Luapula province of Zambia. However, the yields on smallholder farms are relatively low largely due to disease infections. The study was therefore conducted to establish farmers’ perceptions, knowledge and management of cassava mosaic disease (CMD), which is one of the major diseases of cassava, and to establish farmers’ preferred traits, constraints and assess sources of cassava cuttings for planting. Focus group discussions (FGD) and structured interviews involving 156 farmers in Mwense, Mansa and Samfya districts were conducted from December 2008 to March 2009. Knowledge of CMD was limited among the respondents. Only 2.4% of the respondents were aware of the disease despite high CMD incidence in farmers’ fields. The majority of the farmers were aware of the importance of insect pests; however, they could not differentiate between damages due to diseases or insect pests. High yield and early bulking traits were highly ranked. Most of the farmers planted local landraces on small-fields (

Sixteen cassava genotypes comprising introductions, local landraces and improved genotypes were evaluated for two seasons in Mansa, Zambia, for their reaction to cassava mosaic disease (CMD). The study was conducted in 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons to evaluate the reaction of cassava cultivars to CMD and agronomic traits. Cassava mosaic disease severity and leaf retention were scored at 6 months after planting (MAP) and data on yield and yield components were recorded at harvest (7 MAP). Significant genotype x season interaction for CMD, harvest index, fresh root yield, biomass, plant height, root size and leaf retention was recorded. Bangweulu, Kalaba, Chikula, Mwakamoya and Chila-7 were the most susceptible genotypes over the two seasons. Mweru, Kampolombo, TMS190, TMS3001, Tanganyika and Nalumino had low severity scores. Harvest index ranged from 0.36 (Mwakamoya) to 0.55 (Chila-7) for the combined seasons. Chila-7 had the highest fresh root yield with a mean of 0.87 kg plant-1 for the combined seasons. The resistant genotypes might be used to improve the CMD resistance of local cultivars through hybridisation.