Plant virology in Africa [1]

Plant virology in Africa Professor Roger Hull, of Norwich, England, writes in support of the Viewpoint article by Dr M Tresh published in Spore 76 entitled The future of plant virology in Africa. 'I strongly support the need for the enhancement of the input to virology in Africa. One only has to look at the problems in Uganda with ACMV1 sweeping down from the north and BSV2 advancing from the south. As you pointed out there are three aspects; diagnosis, epidemiology and resistance or control. On the first, I consider that the best approach is for there to be regional diagnostic centres, say southern Africa, eastern Africa and western Africa. Having regional centres overcomes some of the problems of quarantine. These can be set up initially targeted at one crop and then expanded to take in other crops. If they are linked to an industrialised country lab or labs the development of diagnostics can be done by cooperation. The epidemiology is best done by NARS3 and here, once again, some input from outside the lab is needed. Also, there needs to be a forum whereby experiences and information can be exchanged on a regular basis - how about an African Society for Plant Pathology? With the increased use of information technology there could also be a website or sites for efficient communication. On control or resistance there is a strong case to be made for the use of transgenic protection against viruses. I have just completed a study on uptake pathways from transgenic rice and it is likely that there will be an initiative for testing RYMV4 transgenic protection in Africa. So I would support the initial step of having a conference but this needs to have a target. I would suggest that the initial target could be the setting up of an appropriate forum and ad hoc group of people who could advise on how individual countries can benefit from all major advances in tackling their virology problems.'

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format:	News Item biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 1998
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/48267 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99635
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