Pakistan Braces for Ug99

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Scott C. Lucas|27 May 2008

According to the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS), Pakistan is the first step in the pathway for windborne spread of the deadly wheat fungus spores, particularly in Sindh and lower Punjab.

Dr. Mujeeb Qazi, Program Director of Pakistan’s National Wheat Program, warns that the swift movement of Ug99 from Yemen to Iran within just a year has raised alarm bells. Dr. Qazi warned that the germplasm of all major Pakistani wheat varieties tested in Kenya over the past several years did not provide adequate resistance to Ug99.