New wheat varities resist deadly fungus #kenya

After counting their losses for over a
decade, wheat farmers in East Africa are looking
forward to a brighter future now that new
varieties developed by scientists have proven to
be resistant to a devastating wheat disease, and
are boosting yields into the bargain.
Known as Ug99, the fungal stem-rust disease
thrives in warmer temperatures, and the spores
can travel thousands of miles aided by wind,
according to Peter Njau, a research scientist at the
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).
As the name suggests, Ug99 was discovered in
Uganda in the year 1999. It has since spread
through Kenya to Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, and
across the Red Sea to Yemen and Iran, causing
havoc for farmers along the way. There are fears
the disease could reach India and other major
wheat-producing countries in Asia.
Stem rust has been around in different forms
since Roman times, and in the early part of the
20th century, it repeatedly destroyed more than
20 percent of the U.S. wheat harvest.
By the 1970s, it was apparently extinct. But over
the decades, the fungus that causes stem rust
evolved a way around the single resistant gene
that was protecting modern varieties, resulting in
Ug99. When tested, up to 80 percent of the
world's wheat was found to be susceptible.
Virginia Gitau, a district agricultural officer in Njoro
in western Kenya, told Thomson Reuters
Foundation that before the first two stem rust-
resistant wheat varieties were released two years
ago, many farmers had abandoned the crop.
"This disease is a real threat to food security in
Kenya and the entire region," she said. "Coupled
with shifting climatic conditions, such emerging
diseases can be real challenges to livelihoods."
DEMAND RISING
Wheat is an important cereal in Africa, and
demand is growing faster than for any other food
crop. According to the International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT), the continent produces between 20
million and 25 million tonnes of wheat annually.
But in 2010 - the latest year for which data is
available - African countries imported around 38
million tonnes of wheat to help meet demand.