I C A R D A    N e w s

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS

P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105;
E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
For more information contact: Dr Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
 
 
29 September 2005
Global Rust Initiative: Safeguarding the World's Wheat Production
Inaugural session of the GRI launch. Seated from right to left are: Hon. Kipruto Arap Kirwa, Minister of Agriculture, Kenya; Nobel Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug; and Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, Director General of ICARDA.
A Global Rust Initiative (GRI) was launched at an international summit held on 9 to 10 September 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Initiative is being led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in cooperation with the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO). Hon. Kipruto Arap Kirwa, Minister of Agriculture, Kenya, inaugurated the launch.

In his opening address at the GRI summit, Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA Director General, said ICARDA was pleased to be a partner in the Initiative. He congratulated members of the "Expert Panel on the Stem Rust Outbreak in East Africa" for their useful report and said "the report forewarns us of the challenges that rusts can bring, and how to forearm ourselves to meet those challenges." He highlighted the challenges of wheat production in the world, with particular reference to rusts. He emphasized that global alliance is the only means for fighting the threats posed by rusts and called on scientists at the summit to participate in, and support, the Initiative.

Nobel Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug, in his keynote address, said that "in the 1960s and 1970s, links between researchers in different parts of the world were much stronger than they are now. We must go back to that [level of collaboration] if we hope to address this new strain and any other that may arise. The disease will have serious consequences for small-scale farmers who may not have enough funds to spray chemicals."
GRI summit participants. Among those seated in the front row are: Hon. Kipruto Arap Kirwa (fifth from right), Minister of Agriculture, Kenya; Nobel Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug (fourth from right); Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy (center), Director General of ICARDA; Dr Masa Iwanaga (third from right), Director General of CIMMYT; Dr Romano M. Kiome (fourth from left), Director General, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute; and Dr Tsedeke Abate (right), Director General of the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization.

The GRI was formed following the disastrous outbreak of a new strain of wheat stem rust, Ug99, first identified in Uganda in 1999. GRI is an interdisciplinary research and development consortium through which appropriate wheat varieties that possess stable resistance to the new stem rust races will be rapidly developed and deployed. Efforts to stop the spread of the stem rust disease started with the constitution of an Expert Panel on the Stem Rust Outbreak in East Africa, led by Dr Ronnie Coffman, Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University, and a former member of ICARDA Board of Trustees. He released the panel report at a press conference a day before the GRI summit, and presented the Panel recommendations at the summit for consideration.

Wheat rust caused huge grain losses and even famines in the first half of the 20th century. A stem rust outbreak in North America destroyed nearly 70% of wheat plantations in 1950. Dr Masa Iwanaga, Director General of CIMMYT, said "all wheat farms in Kenya have been affected by Ug99, as well as all those in Uganda and Ethiopia. Kenyan small-scale farmers, who produce 20% of the country's wheat, have lost as much as 50% of their wheat because of the disease." As much as 10% of the world's wheat crops, with an estimated value of $9-billion, could fail if the disease is not tackled, he said.

Wheat stem rust is caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis, and is capable of causing complete crop loss. The disease outbreak was first reported in Uganda in 1999 but has now spread to parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, and some other parts of the East African region. The disease threatens to spread to the Middle East, Asia and the Americas because the pathogen spores can spread over long distances by wind.

The GRI summit resolved to adopt the following outcomes:
•
 Declaration of Ug99 as a strategic threat to global wheat production
•
 Endorsement of the expert panel report recommendations as a roadmap for a coordinated global response
•
 Agreement on the establishment of a Global Rust Initiative
•
 While endorsing aggressive action on stem rust, spillover benefits are expected for yellow rust and leaf rust control
•
 Agreement of a preliminary organizational structure for the GRI inclusive of both policy and technical advisory groups
•
 Pledges of financial resources to support both core and project activities with a provision for specific focus on Ug99

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
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