Insects, mites, spiders, and other creatures occur in cassava farms. Some of these creatures are harmful while others are beneficial. The harmful creatures are called pests because they feed on and damage cassava leaves and stems and roots, causing losses to the farmer. Some of these pests are easily seen. However, there are others such as tiny mites which may not be easily noticed especially if you are not trained to look for them. Even though the damage caused by pests may be obvious, this does not necessarily mean that the pest is causing yield loss. Pest control measures should be undertaken only when the pests are becoming very abundant and pose a high risk of yield loss, and/or the crop looks unhealthy.
Cassava suffers from wide variety of diseases caused by virus, fungi and bacteria. On global basis, cassava mosaic disease in most widely spread and forms the major limiting factor in the cassava production.. Bacterial blight is a devastating disease which cause complete yield loss. The fungal diseases include tuber rots, stem rot, dieback and leaf spots.