by Henry Neondo
20 March 2008
Scientists and researchers from Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, joined colleagues from all over the world at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to standardize protocols and strengthen international collaboration to combat Stem Rust, a devastating wheat disease.
Agriculture scientists are endeavoring to stop the spread of the devastating fungus, which has now been found in Iran.
Historically, sporadic epidemics of stem rust, also known as black rust, have plagued wheat production.
An outbreak of the disease in North America in the 1950s destroyed up to 40% of the spring wheat crop.
Stem rust is once again on the move. In 1999, scientists discovered a new strain of the fungus in Uganda, now known as Ug99 that has defeated the resistance in varieties that were resistant to stem rust in the past.
Over the past few years, Ug99 has infected crops in North and East African countries and in early 2006 it was found in Yemen.
Dr Mahmoud Solh, ICARDA Director General, inaugurating the workshop underscored the need for a concerted global effort to contain the spread of the devastating stem rust, Ug99.
“We all know that Ug99 is capable of causing enormous losses to wheat production and food security in the Horn of Africa, the Nile Valley countries, West Asia, North Africa and even worldwide unless it is controlled through deployment of wheat varieties with durable rust resistance, and other means to combat the spread of disease. This effort is beyond the capacity of any one country or any one institution. This certainly needs a global effort,” Dr Solh said.
The Director General said that the biggest casualty thus far had been in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen. “However, the race has now arrived in Iran, a country with 6 million hectares of wheat. The pathogen is certainly moving quicker than originally anticipated.
Therefore, surveillance, monitoring and tracking of this new strain is essential for establishing an integrated strategy for control of the disease.” Dr Solh said.
Dr Solh pointed out that Ug99 was confirmed in Yemen as had been predicted based on the knowledge of earlier movements of Yellow Rust. “We have the conviction that Ug99 will spread beyond Iran faster and may take additional pathways. With the long distance travel of rust spores, it is only a matter of time until Ug99 spreads further into the Near East, the Mediterranean Region including N. Africa and South Europe and possibly Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asian countries, South Asia and East Asia,” he cautioned.
It is certainly a serious threat to global food security. In October last year scientists and researchers had met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to establish an early warning system to check the spread of stem rust. Based on their deliberations researchers had set up a survey system that would help them identify spread of the fungus.
The two-day “Stem Rust Baseline Survey Workshop on Standardizing Protocols and International Collaboration” was held at ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria on 10 and11 March. The workshop was jointly organized by ICARDA, CIMMYT, FAO and Cornell University, USA under the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative.
Some 49 scientists and researchers from national agriculture research systems of Nepal, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Uruguay and Yemen, and various international research institutes attended the workshop were among participants.
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