FAO launches Rust SPORE to step up global surveillance of Ug99 strain
FAO has launched a new website to track the advance of Ug99 the devastating strain of wheat stem rust disease and other wheat rusts amid concern the fungus is on the march across Africa and could head toward South Asia.
The aim of “Rust SPORE” is to deliver up-to-date information on the status of wheat stem rust, monitor important new strains of the disease and synthesize and provide easy access to reliable data on a global scale.
The information is retrieved from field data provided by national surveillance teams in cooperating countries that have been trained in using harmonized surveillance protocols and forming an international rust surveillance network.
