New Efforts to Combat an Old Scourge


With its effects on potato and tomato, late blight is the single worst disease of food crops in the world: causing as much as $10 billion in annual losses to farmers for potato alone. With climate change, the impact of late blight is expected to worsen, since rising temperatures accelerate its development and spread. This week, November 16-20, CIP is coordinating a meeting in Bellagio, Italy uniting scientists from 20 countries to critically assess the problem from multiple perspectives and design a global strategy addressing priority needs and opportunities. A key product of the meeting will be a white paper that educates policy makers in agricultural research and development on pressing late blight research demands.

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Press Release:

New Efforts to Combat an Old Scourge
International Scientists Join Forces with a Global Initiative to Fight Late Blight Disease, which Threatens Potatoes and other Food Crops Worldwide 

Bellagio, Italy. Over 160 years ago, late blight disease wiped out potato harvests in Europe leading to massive starvation and the famous Irish potato famine. Could such a scene happen again? Late blight remains the single greatest threat to potatoes, the world’s third most important food crop in terms of human consumption. Combined with its effects on tomato, late blight is the single worst disease of food crops. With climate change, the impact of late blight is expected to worsen, since rising temperatures accelerate its development and spread.

Caused by a fungus-like pathogen called Phytophthora infestans, late blight leads to billions of dollars of losses each year: as much as $10 billion on potato alone, according to recent estimates. The impact on developing countries is especially harsh, as they are home to the majority of potato farmers, many of whom depend on potato for their economic survival and food security.

This week, late blight experts from around the world are gathering in Bellagio, Italy to fight back. They are harnessing the scientific resources and brainpower of participants from 20 countries, ranging from Canada to China, Ethiopia to India, and Peru to Sweden to create a truly global initiative for fighting late blight. The rising rates of hunger worldwide combined with the increased pressure of climate change are adding greater urgency to the problem. “We are seeing increased risk in areas as diverse as the Andean highlands, Northern US, the lake region of Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Europe, parts of Central Asia, or southwest China and Nepal,” notes Greg Forbes, a plant pathologist at the International Potato Center and organizer of the meeting.

Another insidious problem related to late blight is the health risk caused to farmers and their families as a result of chronic exposure to the pesticides they employ to control the disease.  The most common products used – the dithiocarbamates, such as mancozeb – break down into suspected carcinogens.

Scientists and development workers are collaborating on breeding for late blight resistance and capacity building to improve late blight management.The group meeting in Bellagio is critically assessing the problem from multiple perspectives and designing a global strategy that addresses priority needs and opportunities.  According to Stephen Sherwood of the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, “One major obstacle, associated with the global financial crises, has been decreasing public and private support for agriculture, forcing us to be creative on means of effective innovation.” A key product of the meeting will be a white paper that educates policy makers in agricultural research and development on pressing late blight research demands.

The expected results of this united effort will be measurable gains in the sustainable production of potato and tomato.

For more information,
please contact:
Valerie Gwinner
Head, Communications and Public Awareness Department
International Potato Center (CIP)
v.gwinner@cgiar.org
Tel: +51 1 317 5334