This document discusses FAO's experiences with and vision for wheat rust disease surveillance and management. It outlines FAO's objectives to prevent and respond to wheat rust diseases through international collaboration, technical support, training, and early warning systems. Key components of FAO's wheat rust global program include awareness raising, surveillance, seed systems, capacity building, and contingency planning. FAO has found farmer training through field schools to be effective and is working to address challenges in seed systems and availability. The document also describes FAO's support for a global rust monitoring system and mobile surveillance tools to facilitate early detection and rapid response to wheat rust outbreaks.

1. Experiences and vision of FAO
on surveillance and
management of wheat rust
diseases
F. Dusunceli1, W. Khoury2, H. Muminjanov3, A.
Nersisyan4, S. Aldobai5, N. Birisik6, M. Sahin6, S.
Selcuk6, T. Asikoglu3, Z. Mert7, K. Akan7,
K.Nazari8, D.Hodson9
Food and Agriculture Organization

2. FAO: Mission
 Contribute to the achievement of food
security and eradication of hunger
 Normative work in food and agriculture
(Agreements, standards, regulations …),
 Technical assistance (Pest and pesticide
management, IPM),
 Emergency prevention support.

3. Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES)
 All agriculture and food related areas,
 Food Chain Crisis Management Framework:
 Food related risks; Animal health; Plant health
 Includes Transboundary Plant Pests and Diseases
Objectives
 Prevention
 Surveillance – alerts
 Awareness - Preparedness
 Timely response

4. Objectives:
 Prevention, preparedness & management
 Technical support,
 International collaboration,
Partners:
BGRI / Cornell University;
CIMMYT; ICARDA; IFAD;
AARHUS University;
National Governments and Institutions
Donors: IFAD; Cornell University / BMGF; USDA; FAO / Italy
Cooperative Programme; Spanish Trust Fund
Wheat Rust Disease Global Programme

5. Awareness raising
and policy:
-Workshops;
- Contingency planning
Surveillance:
- Global rust Monitoring
System
- National surveys
- Early warning
Farmer training &
extension:
- Farming Field Schools,
- Farmer Study Groups
- Field Days
Capacity Building:
-Greenhouse, Laboratory, field
capacity improvement support;
-Training of experts
Regional and International
Collaboration:
- Conferences, symposiums
- Travelling workshops
Seed systems:
-Promotion of use of
resistant cultivars
-Variety registration
Components of the programme

6. Experiences: Farmer training
 Farmer Field Schools, Farmer Study Groups,
field days and demonstrations were effective,
 Interactions with experts and farmer-to-
farmer knowledge exchange,
 Education level / illiteracy major problem,
 Sustainability, scale up, commitments !

7.  Slow registration processes and replacement,
 Limited publicity,
 Resistance not always considered as priority,
 Seed availability,
 Cost and accessibility,
Seeds: Major constraints
Preference, speed
and scale!

8. Seeds: Challenges
 Resistance is not given enough emphasis (awareness, better
publicity means and incentives could help),
 Formal seed systems are not strong everywhere (support
needed also for informal seed production),
 Extension systems and institutions weak (capacity
development, training needed on technology transfer)
 Engagement of farmer organizations, cooperatives and
(Capacity development, policy support, incentives ..)
 Seed availability and cost (support mechanisms for certified
seeds?)

9. Awareness raising
 Many government institutions do
not pay attention to rusts,
 Awareness raising is essential at all
levels emphasizing the essential
elements,
- Coordination
- Surveillance
- Cultivar resistance
- Seed systems
- Rapid response

10. Contingency Planning ?
Purpose:
 Integrated planning ahead of crisis / epidemics for
prevention and rapid response
 Develop a strategic long term vision and identify prioritized
actions,
 A process to find answers to a number of questions:
 What are strengths and challenges?
 What to do?
 How to?
 With whom ?
 With what ?
 Coordination / Process ?

11. Contingency planning:Things to consider
 Engagement of all relevant stakeholders and
institutions, identification of their roles and
coordination arrangements,
 Establishment of a platform for information
exchange, evaluation and decision making,
 Situation analysis and identification of
strengths and gaps,
 Development of a collective action plan for
rapid response

12. Institutional Coordination
National rust
managemen
t committee
Technical
committee
(Task force)
Regional
committees
(Task forces)
Themes / Task forces and leads
Planning, monitoring and finance
Surveillance and early warning
Research and cultivar development
Variety registration
Seed production and distribution
Fungicide use and IPM
Farmer training and extension
International collaboration

13.  Support to Global Rust Monitoring
System,
 Collaboration with CIMMYT, ICARDA
and AARHUS University on Global
Rust Monitoring system,
 Support to countries for field
surveys,
 Speedy surveys for rapid response!
Surveillance

14. Why go mobile?
Rapid response requires
 Effective coordination and planning,
 Speedy access to field information,
 Wide coverage,
 Early warning and decision making,
 Field data must be
 Reliable
 Readily available

15. How far ?
How many times ?
How many districts ?
Surveying for rusts !

16. Surveying for rusts

17. Mobile surveillance tool
SMS: WHT YR20 ABCD

18. The system
Structure
 SMS gateway tool and software,
 An operation unit based at Ministry,
 Network of
 extension officers in districts
 researchers at institutes
Procedure:
 Presence and species of rusts in fields,
 Percentage of infected plants,
 Any other relevant information such as field size or name
of the cultivar.

19. Findings
IMMEDIATE
DISPLAY
WARNINGS:
- SMS
- MAIL
FILE &
STORE

20. Yellow rust development - 2013

21. Search / reporting tool

22. 2014 !

23. More than a survey system !
 Utilization of extension offices in districts,
 Real time access to field data,
 Exchange of information among extension,
offices, operation unit, research institutes and
relevant authorities,
 Early warning and decision-making tool to
facilitate timely interventions,
 Assists research institutions to design their
scientific surveys in the most appropriate
locations and routes,

24. Future prospects
 Adaptation possible,
 Can accommodate other pests and diseases,
 Can be considered as a component of wider crop
monitoring systems,
 Effective tool for rapid response,
 Information sharing, coordination and
collaboration platform for research, crop
protection and extension institutions.