Representatives of major wheat producing countries have called for urgent co-ordinated action to prevent and control the wheat stem rust disease strain Ug99, a United Nations agency said Wednesday.The fungus is capable of causing heavy damage to wheat crops and is a major threat to food security, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement.
FAO cited a declaration adopted by the just-concluded International Conference on Wheat Stem Rust Ug99 - A Threat to Food Security in New Delhi in which countries pledged to support prevention and control of the wheat stem rust as a matter of national policy and international co-operation.
Affected countries and countries at risk should develop contingency plans to prevent rust epidemics that could result in devastating yield losses. Countries should share surveillance information and a global early warning system should be immediately established, the FAO said.
The virulent strain of the wheat stem rust disease, called Ug99 after its discovery in Uganda in 1999, spread from East Africa to Yemen, Sudan and in late 2007 to Iran. Currently there is no evidence that the fungus has spread to any other country.
A recent field survey, funded by Cornell University in the US, showed that Ug99 is not present in India, Pakistan, Egypt and China. However, it is estimated that as much as 80 per cent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia and Africa are susceptible to the new strain. The spores of wheat rust are mostly carried by wind over long distances and across continents.
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