The Africa Data Revolution Report 2016 »
Economics of climate change mitigation in central and west Asia »
Virulent pests and diseases that are ravaging Africa’s forests with profound intensity pose new threats to their survival, experts said at a forum in Entebbe, Uganda on Wednesday. The experts drawn
<p>The spread of pests and pathogens that damage plant life could cost global agriculture $540 billion a year, according to this report released by the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. An increase in international trade and travel had left flora facing rising threats from invasive pests and pathogens, and called for greater biosecurity measures.</p>
<p>The prevailing paradigm of host-parasite evolution is that arms races lead to increasing specialisation via genetic adaptation. Insect herbivores are no exception and the majority have evolved to colonise
Rabat – Two new fungal diseases capable of destroying whole wheat crops around the world have been discovered, with crops in the Mediterranean at particular risk, according to a study conducted by the
<p>An infection that struck wheat crops in Sicily last year is a new and unusually devastating strain of fungus, researchers say — and its spores may spread to infect this year’s harvests in
Rome — Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 per cent in untreated susceptible wheat, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new
<p>Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, the causal agent of potato late blight, was responsible for the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Initial disease outbreaks occurred in the US in 1843, two years
<p>Existing theory, empirical, clinical and field research all predict that reducing the virulence of individuals within a pathogen population will reduce the overall virulence, rendering disease less
<p>Climate change will have serious repercussions for agriculture, ecosystems, and farmer livelihoods in Central America. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on agriculture
A fungal disease called Diplodia ear rot is lurking in corn fields in portions of the U.S. Midwest, and crop experts and farmers fear lower yields and crop damage that could force growers to accept steep