Country Preparedness to Face Yellow Rust Epidemics: Situation in

Developing Countries

Wafa El Khoury Wheat Rust Disease Global Programme

FAO, Rome, ItalyInternational Wheat Stripe Rust Symposium

ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria, 18-20 April 2011

Yellow rust management

• Yellow rust could quickly reach epidemic levels and go out of control with favorable environmental conditions and presence of susceptible varieties

• Countries need to put in place a series of actions within a clear plan that would support its preparedness to face potential epidemics

Yellow rust management

• Resistant varieties

• Fungicidal application

• Cultural practices and reduction of early inoculum

Resistant varieties

Cultural practices

Fungicidal application

Adoption

Field testing

Application capacity

Cost effectiveness

Timing of application

Agronomic practicesReduction

of early inoculum

Landscape management green bridges

Varietal mixtures

Changing planting

dateEfficacy of fungicides

Accessibility to farmers

Popularization

Seed multiplication

Varietal release /

registration

Breeding

Availability Registration

Stakeholders involved

BGRI actions • Series of wheat rusts awareness-raising

meetings• Meetings involving all stakeholders (research,

plant protection, seeds, extension and farmers)

• Meetings covered countries of Central Asia, North Africa and the Near East

• Country reports prepared jointly by the multi-disciplinary national delegation

Situation in developing countries

• Some countries have full-fledged wheat breeding programmes

• In some, breeders are few, not working necessarily on wheat

• Genetic material commonly received from CG-centres, tested and adopted

• Other stress factors always considered in breeding• Race analysis capacities only in very few countries.

Lack of infrastructure, human capacity and funding• Gene deployment strategy non existent

Situation in developing countries

• Registration system often rigid and not efficient for rapid replacement of varieties

• Seed multiplication system mostly informal (ranges from 40% - 80%)

• Quality of seeds produced in informal system not controlled - capacity building needed

• Decision on varieties to be multiplied in the formal system depends on the requests of the farmers

Situation in developing countries

• Wheat varieties cultivated over large areas are often 2- 4 decades old

• Farmers often not aware of the benefits of new varieties

• Popularization of varieties through demonstration plots and farmers’ fields mostly done through researchers and breeders

• Extension agents not sufficiently involved• Farmers are rarely involved in varietal selection

Reasons for slow variety replacement

• Poor farmers are risk adverse• New varieties not always meeting local

farmers’ needs or preferences • Limited information on their availability• Limited availability or accessibility of quality

seeds

Situation in developing countries • Many do not have registered fungicides for wheat

rusts• Small-scale wheat farmers often cannot afford

cost of fungicides• Many farmers do not have sprayers and

protective clothing• Farmers lack knowledge on use and sprayer

calibration (training needed)• Information on disease onset not shared early

enough for effective control

Situation in developing countries

• Forged, illegal or smuggled fungicides, black markets common with emergency situations

• No efficacy tests of newly registered fungicides• No impact assessment done to evaluate cost

effectiveness of application (on yield, cost, disease)

• Limited research on timing and number of application based on disease appearance, severity and variety susceptibility

Situation in developing countries • General disease surveys commonly linked to

availability of public funds• Often, no specific wheat rusts surveillance done

unless linked to project funds• Information sharing when done, often not

immediate, through annual reports and meetings shared often with own institution

• Limited rust race analysis capacities: infrastructure, human and financial capacities

• Efficient solutions country-specific based on the local system (protection, research and extension)

Country preparedness actions includes

• Availability of resistant varieties that are known to and accepted by farmers

• Availability of sufficient quality seeds of these varieties for farmer use

• Availability, accessibility and affordability of effective fungicides and capacity of farmers to use them

Country preparedness actions includes• Reliable field surveillance and race analysis

for proper decision making

• Capacity of the breeding, seed and extension systems in the country to continuously provide farmers with a range of new resistant varieties

• thus maintaining field resistance to the changing rust virulence

Preparedness plans: Stakeholders

Preparedness plans: Elements

Thank you