A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>
Date: Wed 14 Jan 2015
Source: eKantipur.com/The Kathmandu Post [edited] <http://www.ekantipur.com/2015/01/14/business/uninsured-farmers-hit-as-disease-strikes-crops/400343.html>
Disease strikes crops
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Farmers [in Banke district, Mid Western Region] have lost much of their potato and tomato harvests due to the outbreak of a disease as a result of the cold. According to the District Agriculture Development Office (DAO), the disease has affected potato crops on 280 hectares and about 5 percent of the tomato production in the district. Farmers have planted potato and tomato on 5000 hectares each.
The production of tomato and potato is expected to drop this year [2015] due to the disease. An expected 15 tonnes of potatoes can be produced on a hectare of land. As per DAO, output could go down to 8 tonnes per hectare.
The outbreak of the disease has been blamed on the use of potato seeds not recommended by the government. DAO has urged farmers to use the TPS variety which are said to be resistant to fungi. But the farmers had been using substandard seeds imported from India as they are cheaper compared to the local seeds.
DADO said that farmers could minimize the risk of the disease by using appropriate chemicals [and] doing proper weeding. Farmers who use affected seeds are likely to suffer losses.
[Byline: Thakur Singh Tharu]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[A number of potato and tomato diseases have been reported from the region. However, from the description above and since late blight of potato and tomato (PLB; caused by the fungus-like organism _Phytophthora infestans_) is rife in the country and the region, this may be the disease referred to above.
PLB is favoured by cool, moist conditions and can cause 100 percent crop losses. It can destroy a crop within a few days. It is spread by plant material, mechanical means, wind and water. Uncertified or farm saved potato seed tubers and tomato seed (or transplants) are known to pose a significant risk of spreading the pathogen (for example in India, ProMED-mail post 20101015.3738). Disease management may include removal of pathogen reservoirs (including weeds, as mentioned above), crop rotation, preventative fungicide treatments of planting material and fungicide sprays of crops. Certification schemes for planting material have been set up in many countries and are vital to control outbreaks. (For more information on PLB see links below and previous posts in the archives).
Maps
Nepal:
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/nepal_pol90.jpg>
Nepal regions and districts:
<http://ncthakur.itgo.com/map04.htm>
Banke district:
<http://ncthakur.itgo.com/districtmaps/banke_district.htm>
Pictures
Late blight on potato:
<http://www.potatomuseum.com/images/exblightfieldwithinsert.jpg>
Late blight on tomato:
<http://ipm.illinois.edu/ifvn/volume15/images/tomato_late_blight.jpg>
Links
Lists of major diseases and pathogens of potato and tomato via:
<http://www.apsnet.org/publications/commonnames/Pages/default.aspx>
Information on late blight:
<http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3102.html>,
<http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Potato_LateBlt.htm>
and
<http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/Oomycetes/Pages/LateBlight.aspx>
_P. infestans_ taxonomy:
<http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=232148>
Global Initiative on Late Blight:
<https://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/GILBWEB/Home>
- Mod.DHA]
[See Also:
2014
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Late blight, potato - Bangladesh: (KH) 20140320.2345850
2013
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Yellow leaf curl & blights, tomato - Pakistan: (SD) 20130206.1531086
2012
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Undiagnosed disease, tomato - India: (UT) 20121213.1450713
2011
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Undiagnosed disease, potato - Bhutan: (MO) 20110613.1808
2010
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Late blight, seed potato, tomato - India: (HP) 20101015.3738 Late blight, potato - India: (KA) control 20100505.1458 Late blight, potato - Bangladesh: (RJ) 20100126.0285 Late blight, tomato - India: (UT) 20100121.0236
2009
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Leaf blight, potato - Bangladesh (02): (RJ) 20091231.4398 Late blight, potato - India (03): (MH) 20091008.3491 Late blight, potato - UK, Bangladesh 20090406.1332 Late blight, potato - India, Bangladesh: update 20090310.0989 Blight & undiagnosed disease, potato, chilli - Bhutan 20090211.0612 Late blight, potato - India (02): (WB) 20090131.0435 Leaf blight, potato - Bangladesh: (KH) 20090121.0255 Late blight, potato - Nepal (BR) 20090114.0162 Late blight, potato - India: (PB) 20090103.0018 and additional items on potato and tomato diseases in the archives]
Topics
Species
