Sanaa, Yemen
April 30, 2007
Source:
IRIN News
Yemen’s government has launched a campaign to combat a virulent
and potentially devastating wheat disease after the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently warned
of its spread to the Arabian Peninsular from east Africa.
"Yemen, in particular, should be on the alert, step up field
monitoring and training and prepare for direct control
interventions in disease hot spots,” FAO said in a statement on
12 April. “Most important, control measures in affected
countries should include the introduction of more resistant
wheat varieties and restricting planting dates to break the
disease cycle."
The disease is known as wheat stem rust, wheat black rust or
puccinia graminis. FAO confirmed in a recent field mission to
Yemen that a particularly virulent strain of the disease, called
Ug99, had affected wheat fields in the country for the first
time.
Ug99 gets its name from its place and date of discovery – Uganda
in 1999. It subsequently spread to Kenya and Ethiopia, according
to FAO.
“It appears that the Ug99 strain found in Yemen is already more
virulent than the one found in east Africa. Samples of the
pathogen were sent to the US and Canada for further analysis.
There is a high risk that the disease could also spread to
Sudan," FAO said.
The spores of wheat rust are mostly carried by wind over long
distances, according to FAO specialists. Wheat stem rust is
capable of causing severe agricultural losses by destroying
entire wheat fields. The disease attacks wheat stems and shows
rust-colored orange patches on infected plants.
It is estimated that as much as 80 per cent of all wheat
varieties planted in Asia and Africa are susceptible to the Ug99
strain.
Government fights back
In response to this potential threat, the Yemeni Ministry of
Agriculture and Irrigation has begun a programme to combat wheat
stem rust.
Dr Mansour al-Aqil, general director of the General Department
for Agricultural Information at the ministry, told IRIN on
Sunday that the programme aims to plant detection samples among
crops, which help discover the existence of the disease.
Al-Aqil said two experts from the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and FAO come to
Yemen in February and visited nurseries where they saw samples
revealing wheat stem rust in different provinces.
According to al-Aqil, there are three kinds of wheat rust
disease in Yemen: yellow rust, orange rust, and black rust.
Yellow and orange rust mostly attack leaves, while black rust
attacks the stem, he said. The disease affects the southern
parts of Yemen more than the northern areas, which are colder,
he said.
Wheat is the third most grown cereal in Yemen. It is planted in
more than 86,000 hectares in most provinces of the country. In
2005, Yemen produced 115,000 tonnes of wheat. A wheat rust
epidemic in Yemen would be devastating to the food security of
the impoverished nation and to other major wheat-producing
countries should it spread.
“Global wheat yields could be at risk if the stem rust spreads
to major wheat-producing countries," Dr Jacques Diouf, FAO
director-general, said in a recent statement.
In the late 1980s, a virulent strain of yellow rust emerged in
east Africa and crossed the Red Sea to Yemen, according to FAO.
It then moved into the Near East and Central Asia, reaching the
wheat fields of southern Asia within four years. Major yellow
rust epidemics were subsequently recorded in Egypt, Syria,
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with wheat losses
of more than US $1 billion in value.
"The fungus can spread rapidly and has the potential to cause
global crop epidemics and wheat harvest losses of several
billion dollars. This could lead to increased wheat prices and
local or regional food shortages. Developing countries that are
relying on wheat and do not have access to resistant varieties
will be particularly hit," Diouf said.
RELATED INFORMATION
Communicated by ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Yemen is setting a good example for
other countries that may be affected in the future. Planting
reporter varieties as mentioned in this press release is a start
towards monitoring the disease. However, countries will need to
use certified seed, develop resistant varieties suitable for
their region, increase vigilance, and develop contingency plans
in case of an outbreak. To combat Ug99 worldwide, long-term
projects, international collaboration and ongoing commitment are
required.
The other 2 rust diseases referred to
above are stripe rust, also called yellow rust, caused by
_Puccinia striiformis_; and leaf rust, also called orange rust,
caused by _P. recondita_.
Links:
UN Integrated Regional Information
Networks (IRIN):
< http://www.irinnews.org/>
Information on all 3 wheat rusts:
<http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/16/ebr4.htm>
Information on wheat stem rust:
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=9910>
Information on Ug99:
<http://www.agbioworld.org/newsletter_wm/index.php?caseid=archive&newsid=2686>
Information on wheat stripe rust:
<http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/path-ext/factSheets/Wheat/Wheat%20Stripe%20Rust.asp>
Information on wheat leaf rust:
<http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/path-ext/factSheets/wheat/wheat%20Leaf%20Rust.asp>
Global Rust Initiative:
<http://www.globalrust.org/>.
- Mod.DHA
A map of the region is available at
<http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/political/Saudi_etc.htm>.
- CopyEd.MJ]
[see also in the
archive:
Wheat stem rust, spread: FAO,
Global Rust Initiative 20070414.1241
Wheat stem rust, strain Ug99 - Yemen: 1st report 20070117.0229] |
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