IPM Success Story:
Diagnosing Plant Diseases Benefits Farmers
in Developing Countries
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Plant diseases cause significant economic losses
throughout the world, but their effects are felt
most severely in developing regions where the
majority of families obtain their livelihood from
farming. Potentially
devastating diseases commonly faced by farmers in
these regions include:
1. Late blight of potato and tomato
2. Bacterial wilt of tomato, potato and eggplant (brinjal)
3. Wheat stem rust
4. Insect transmitted virus diseases
Plant diseases must be correctly identified to allow
farmers to put in place effective integrated
management strategies. However, plant disease
diagnosis is a knowledge-driven process and often
requires specialized training. Further, symptoms of
the disease may not be adequate for accurate
diagnosis, and laboratory testing may be needed.
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Many women
and children in Africa work in fields. Being
able to grow healthy crops is key to
maintaining a healthy diet and improved
standard of living. |
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Plant
diseases must be correctly identified to allow farmers
to put in place effective integrated management
strategies. However, plant disease diagnosis is a
knowledge-driven process and often requires specialized
training. Further, symptoms of the disease may not be
adequate for accurate diagnosis, and laboratory testing
may be needed.
As farmers in developing regions seek to enter export
markets to increase family income, additional pressures
are placed upon them to meet quality standards and phyto-sanitary
(plant health) requirements. Both pre- and post-harvest
diseases can pre-empt these attempts to market produce
internationally. In addition, importing countries are
concerned about the introduction of new pathogens that
may greatly harm domestic agriculture.
In many developing regions, plant disease diagnostic
capacity is poorly developed to nonexistent. Building
capacity for plant disease diagnostics not only directly
benefits farmers, but it also helps to reduce the risk
of accidental introduction of new pathogens into the
United States and other countries.
In order to address both local needs for timely and
accurate plant disease diagnosis and international phyto-sanitary
requirements, capacity for plant pathogen diagnostics in
developing regions must be significantly improved.
Currently, neither infrastructure nor human capital is
adequate to meet the needs. This project addresses
these issues in three critical regions: West Africa,
East Africa and Central America/Caribbean. Our
project is closely linked to IPM CRSP regional programs
and other Global Theme programs in selected countries by
sharing resources and scientists and by developing joint
research programs.
Specific
Objectives
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1. |
Create
regional systems with the technical capacity to
diagnose plant diseases in three participating
regions, beginning with “hub” laboratories in
one country per region, progressing to “spoke”
laboratories in nearby countries within the
region. |
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2. |
Develop a communication and
data networking system that details pathogen
distribution, diagnosis and IPM options and
links target countries to each other and to
experts in the U.S. and elsewhere. |
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3. |
Develop and
carry out comprehensive training programs to
increase diagnostic capacity within host country
institutions for phytosanitary and IPM
applications. |
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4. |
Develop/adapt
biotechnology-based diagnostic tests and
protocols to meet the needs of regional IPM CRSP
programs, USAID Missions and/or other donors. |
Funding
USAID $520,000 through IPM CRSP - Virginia Tech,
Management Entity
Cooperators
Sally A. Miller,
The Ohio State
University, lead
Timur Momol and Pete Vergot,
University of Florida
Sue Tolin, Virginia Tech
Bob Gilbertson, University of California-Davis
Douglas Maxwell, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Drissa Silue, AVRDC, The
World Vegetable Center, Arusha, Tanzania
Fen Beed, IITA, Cotonou, Benin
Marco Arevalo, Agroexpertos, Guatemala
City, Guatemala
Kitty Cardwell, USDA CSREES, National Plant Diagnostic
Network
Phil Berger, Laurene Levy, USDA APHIS
Ron Stinner, NSF Center for IPM, North Carolina State
University
Contact Information (Project Director)
Dr. Sally Miller
Department of Plant Pathology
The Ohio State University – OARDC
1680 Madison Avenue
Wooster, OH 44691
Ph: 330-263-3678
Mobile: 330-466-5249
Fax: 330-263-3678
E-mail:
miller.769@osu.edu
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