DISEASE & PEST CONTROL ■ 35
C&CI
Coffee wood for sale; much of this material is diseased. March 2010
CWD is present in the four countries
highlighted above; surveys in
Cameroon, Rwanda and Côte
d’Ivoire found nothing.
The question is, can this disease be able resource new to science but is under ■ A total of 2,578 extensionists were trained
brought under control again in a similar threat from deforestation – it is urgent that as trainers and farmer field school facilitators
fashion to the 1950s, or will African coffee steps are taken to collect and conserve this in disease identification and management.
now always suffer from this problem? material in safe sites. Based on the training of trainers activities,
slightly more than 1 million farmers were■ Powerful molecular identification methods
Responding
differentiated several strains of CWD, con- trained by extensionists from 2002-2007.
firming the complexity of the disease. The ■ The most resistant Arabica genotype test-
to the crisis
strain of the current Robusta disease out- ed to date was a Catimor variety. But none
If CWD is to be effectively controlled, a dis- break is identical with a strain isolated from of the tested cultivars displayed a mortality of
tinct, long term and proactive strategy is DRC in 1960. less than 20 per cent, suggesting that no
needed to suppress it in the future. Arabica genotypes are currently available■ Arabica CWD is a different strain however,
Accordingly a Regional Coffee Wilt which does not attack Robusta. The Arabica with high CWD resistance. Ethiopian Arabica
Programme (2000-07) was set up, funded and Robusta strains may even be separate CWD could present a serious threat to
by the Common Fund for Commodities, the diseases that arose independently, most like- Arabica production in other countries if it
EU, and UKAid. Partners for the programme ly from undetected disease forms on wild spread, as has happened with Robusta
were the Coffee Research Institute of coffee species or even non-coffee species. It CWD.
Uganda, Jimma Agriculture Research is therefore possible that a new outbreak ■ A breeding programme in Uganda has
Centre, Ethiopia, Tanzania Coffee Research could occur spontaneously at any time. screened thousands of Robusta plants for
Institute, Institut des Sciences Agronomique resistance to CWD. The initial screening■ CWD transmission from infected wood to
du Rwanda, the Office National du Café adjacent uninfected seedlings was con- produced over 1,500 lines potentially
DRC, the Institute for Agricultural Research firmed through experiment; hence leaving resistant to the disease. Further screening
for Development (Cameroon), the Centre infected wood near uninfected trees in the and agronomic trials have reduced this to
National de Recherche Agronomique (Côte field is an infection pathway. seven final candidates for release to farm-
d’Ivoire). Science support was provided by ers in 2010. This is a major technical■ Healthy seedlings catch CWD when pot-
Cooperation Internationale en Recherche ted in soil from infected trees. Soil can be advance that hopefully will curb disease
Agronomique pour le Developpement highly infective for at least three months; at incidence.
(CIRAD), and Université Catholique du least one year without coffee is advisable to
Louvain (UCL). The programme was imple- avoid re-infection.
Principal
mented under the supervision of the ■ There is evidence that once established in
International Coffee Organisation (ICO), and a plot, the subsequent spread of infection is
recommendations
executed by CABI Africa. from tree to neighbouring tree. Statistical The principal recommendations of the pro-
analysis suggests that an infected tree can gramme are as follows:
Some principal findings of the regional infect others up to 10m away. Hence eradi- ■ Establish an international task force to reg-
programme include the following: cation of diseased trees in a healthy plot ularly visit coffee countries to carry out farm
should also include their neighbours to stand■ CWD is widespread in Uganda and surveys, collect plant material for subse-
Ethiopia, restricted in Tanzania, and spread- a good chance of halting an infection. quent analysis, conduct training and inter-
ing in DRC. It is found too in wild forest cof- ■ Many farmers weed by machete and hoe, view plant protection personnel, to rapidly
fee, giving rise to concern that it may weak- both of which may spread CWD through fre- detect any new outbreaks.
en the genetic base of both Robusta and quent cuts to the base of the main stem. ■ Upgrade disease recognition, quarantine,
Arabica genomes. Farmers remove diseased coffee wood from research and extension facilities in Africa.
plots to be sold or used in other fields – a■ Robusta material collected from Ugandan ■ Prepare a control and/or eradication strat-
forest sites of Kibale and Itwara was found to major route of infestation that must be egy for CWD – if at all possible this disease
represent genetically distinct diversity groups stopped by increased training and quaran- should be eliminated before it spreads to
within the Robusta genome. This is a valu- tine inspections. new countries. ■ C&CI
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52