Delivering rust resistant wheat to farmers: A step towards increased food security

Abstract

An important step towards reducing the vulnerability of wheat in Africa and Asia, to the Ug99 race of the stem rust pathogen, is the substitution of current susceptible varieties with superior resistant varieties. In the 2008–09 cropping season, both seed multiplication and dissemination of Ug99 resistant varieties was initiated in Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and India. Ug99 resistant varieties must occupy about 5% of the area sown to wheat in each country to ensure sufficient seed to displace current popular varieties. Because of the underdeveloped seed industry and the small farm sizes in most of these countries, various strategies are being applied for rapid multiplication and dissemination of resistant varieties. Approaches being used for rapid multiplication and distribution include pre-release seed multiplication whilst candidate resistant lines are being tested in National Evaluation Trials and farmers’ participatory selection approaches. Resistant varieties were already released in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt, and more varieties are expected to be released in 2010 in these and other countries. Our results show that some new Ug99 resistant lines have yield superiority over dominant local varieties. Activities and progress in seed multiplication, using existing and new Ug99 resistant varieties, are discussed.