Study Warns of Plant Pandemic's Potential to Leave Billions Hungry

According to a group of specialists, one of the most important food crops, wheat, is under peril from a pandemic of blast sickness. Two different importation of the South American wheat blast fungus resulted in the recent spread of a clonal lineage across Asia and Africa, according to their results.

According to the study, crop losses due to pests and illnesses in wheat average more than 20%. Wheat is currently under threat from a growing blast pandemic caused by the ascomycete fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, a powerful and persistent hazard to key grain cereals that could lead to crop loss.

The illness first occurred in Brazil in 1985, but has recently been recorded in Bangladesh and Zambia, inflicting an average yield loss of 51% in the Bangladesh outbreak in 2016.

The study's authors went on to say that the occurrence of wheat blast on three continents with highly conducive climatic conditions for its spread is unprecedented and poses a significant threat to global food security, which is exacerbated by the unprecedented twin challenges of climate change and armed conflicts in major agricultural regions.

According to Professor Nick Talbot of the Sainsbury Laboratory, one of the study's authors, "Only by truly understanding the enemy and the pathogens that cause these diseases will we be able to truly preventively control them."

"We must anticipate that plant diseases will spread around the world as a result of the effects of climate change and globalization, and we must be prepared for them. We must be proactive rather than reactive; we must anticipate how the diseases will move and thus plan accordingly," Nick added.