By Sheana Laughlin
12 March 2008 [MediaGlobal]: A wheat-killing fungus, previously found in East Africa and Yemen, was recently detected in major wheat-growing areas in Iran, reports the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The fungus is capable of severely affecting wheat production by destroying entire fields, and its spores may be carried by the wind over long distances and across continents.
“The detection of the wheat rust fungus in Iran is very worrisome,” said Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division. “The fungus is spreading rapidly and could seriously lower wheat production in countries at direct risk. Affected countries and the international community have to ensure that the spread of the disease gets under control in order to reduce the risk to countries that are already hit by high food prices.”
Countries east of Iran and all major wheat producers have been put on high alert. “Based on the wind patterns there is high risk that it will spread eastwards to countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India,” Wafa Khoury, a Plant Pathologist for FAO, told MediaGlobal. “The movement of the rust pathogen to new areas is normal and expected due to the natural wind movements. However, the speed of its movement from country to country depends on several factors including abrupt winds, the presence of susceptible wheat varieties and the periods of their presence in the field [cropping patterns].”
The wheat fungus first emerged in Uganda in 1999, which earned it the name Ug99. Subsequently, this wind-borne fungus spread to Kenya and Ethiopia. Both countries experienced wheat rust epidemics in 2007, with considerable yield losses. The same year, Ug99 was detected for the first time in Yemen. The strain found in Yemen was already more virulent than the one originally detected in East Africa.
With escalating food prices, this recent strain of Ug99 is causing concern, since it is able to overcome the resistance of most of the modern wheat varieties planted in the world. “It is estimated that 80 percent of the wheat varieties planted in the developing countries are susceptible and severe losses could be expected,” Khoury told MediaGlobal.
“This is why this strain is dangerous. Yield losses due to the disease may go up to 80 percent in severe cases. Yield losses may further induce an increase in the international price of wheat, already high, and of course poor farmers who also depend on wheat as their staple food will be mostly affected.”
The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), established to combat wheat rusts around the world, plans to support affected countries and nations at risk of developing resistant varieties. “Since wheat is not a cash crop, the most economic method of disease control is the use of resistant varieties, when available,” Khoury said.
“Farmers are advised to modify the planting dates of wheat to avoid having severe infections. [This is] a last resort for disease control, which could be used to reduce the build-up of epidemics, but these are economically not feasible for wheat farmers in developing countries,” he added, referring to the constraints facing poor farmers who have an immediate need for food.
BGRI will also provide support to national breeding programs in developing resistant varieties and help with increasing and multiplying the seeds of varieties that show some resistance. It will support monitoring and surveillance of Ug99 and help create guidelines for governments and policy makers to use in preparing contingency plans for reducing the effect of the disease if and when it occurs.
The BGRI was founded by Norman Borlaug at Cornell University, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and FAO.
FAO reports that disease surveillance and wheat breeding is already underway to monitor the fungus and to develop Ug99 resistant varieties. However, the agency stresses that more efforts are required to develop long-term durable and resistant varieties that can be made available to affected farmers or farmers at risk.
For the time being, FAO urges countries to increase disease surveillance and intensify efforts to control the spread of the fungus.