In Afghanistan, Preparing for a Threat to Wheat Plants

aftv420

    • This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, from voaspecialenglish.com Farmers in Afghanistan already struggle with the effects of drought and years of conflict. Now there is worry about a new threat headed in their direction in the wind -- a fungus that destroys wheat crops. The disease is a form of stem rust named for its discovery in Uganda ten years ago. Ug99 is now in one of Afghanistan's neighbors, Iran. The disease kills wheat plants by robbing them of water and nutrients. Stem rust produces reddish-brown spots on the stems of infected plants. The weakened stems break easily. The world's last major outbreak of stem rust took place in the nineteen fifties. Agriculture -- excluding opium production -- represents about one-third of the Afghan economy. But agriculture employs eighty percent of the country's workers. And almost all Afghan farmers grow wheat to feed their families or to sell. Afghanistan has a population estimated at almost thirty-four million people. Mahmoud Solh directs the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA, in Aleppo, Syria. He says it took a few years for Ug99 to show its destructive power. Then, in Kenya, it destroyed from twenty to eighty percent of wheat crops. And before long, he says, winds carried the disease from Kenya to Ethiopia. Ug99 has also affected Sudan and more recently has moved into Asia, spreading to Yemen and Iran. Mahmoud Solh says the disease now threatens Afghanistan and South <b>...</b>
    • Rate: rate 7424e4469f33a48f50cb rate 7424e4469f33a48f50cb rate 7424e4469f33a48f50cb rate 7424e4469f33a48f50cb rate 7424e4469f33a48f50cb
    • (0 Votes) Not yet rated

  • Share URL:

  • Embeddable Player:

  • Sorry! - You need to login before commenting