RAP PUBLICATION 2011/07

Protection against South American leaf blight of rubber in Asia and the Pacific region

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok 2011

ABSTRACT

Rubber is an important cash crop in a number of countries in Asia and the Pacific region. Current total global production of natural rubber is about 9 million tonnes. Over 90 percent of that amount is produced in Asia-Pacific. South American leaf blight (SALB) is a fungal disease of rubber trees. Up to now the disease has been restricted to South and Central America where it has inhibited natural rubber production on a commercial scale. So far, use of modern systemic fungicides and improved application techniques have failed to prevent large scale losses and dieback of trees. Its potential to affect other regions rises with every transcontinental airline connection that directly links tropical regions. The need to develop quarantine measures against the disease is urgent. This publication is a compilation of four separate documents intended as a practical reference tool for national plant organizations, especially for plant quarantine officials, in rubber growing countries in Asia and the Pacific. It was prepared as a set of reference materials to improve phytosanitary measures and safeguard against the incursion of South American leaf blight of rubber into countries in the region, and is one of the many measures that the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission has put in place to prevent SALB disease in the region.

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