SPRING rains brought a to Afghan farmers this year, and the opium poppies were safely brought in because US president Barack Obama withdrew troops he had sent to . But the beleaguered country can鈥檛 rest easy. The Ug99 wheat rust, a virulent fungus that wipes out entire crops, is poised to cross the border from Iran.
Fungal spores have been spreading on the wind from Uganda, where the disease was first discovered in 1999. They reached the wheat fields of Iran two years ago, prompting scientists to warn that millions in Asia were at risk of starvation. If the epidemic reaches Afghanistan, its effects would be catastrophic. 鈥淣early all farmers in Afghanistan grow wheat for food or sale,鈥� says Mahmood Osmanzai, a scientist working for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in the country. Most of the wheat varieties grown in Afghanistan, and indeed around the world, are vulnerable to Ug99.
The fungus could undermine US efforts to help the nation. Obama鈥檚 special representative in Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, said last week that trying to eradicate the country鈥檚 profitable poppy crop had 鈥渄riven people into the hands of the Taliban鈥�. Now, he said, the money was being spent on agricultural assistance for food crops, including finding local wheat varieties resistant to Ug99. The aim is to make wheat more profitable than poppies. If the fungus arrives first, those efforts could well go to waste.
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