Scientists plot end of coffee wilt
Aug 15, 2009
SEVEN new varieties of disease-resistant seedlings will be released to farmers next season to beat coffee wilt, Dr Africano Kangire, the head of the Coffee Research Centre in Kituuza, has said.
<By Macrines Nyapendi
SEVEN new varieties of disease-resistant seedlings will be released to farmers next season to beat coffee wilt, Dr Africano Kangire, the head of the Coffee Research Centre in Kituuza, has said.
To speed up multiplication of the planting materials, scientists at Kituuza are using technology which enables them to get thousands of seedlings from a piece of leaf.
The new varieties developed at Kituuza can yield over 3,250kg per hectare.
“After the mass production and distribution of the wilt resistant varieties, the war on coffee wilt disease will come to an end,†Kangire said.
The wilt caused by a fungus, Gibberella xylarioides, first attacked Uganda in 1993.
Leaves of the affected plants dry up, stems develop yellow streaks and berries wither, often destroying an entire plantation. It affects robusta coffee, which accounts for 80% of Uganda’s coffee production.
Uganda has lost $2,040b in export earnings to the disease over the past 12 years and it is projected to cause a further loss of $150m in the 2008/2009 season.
Countrywide, there are over 134 million coffee plants that are susceptible to the disease.
SEVEN new varieties of disease-resistant seedlings will be released to farmers next season to beat coffee wilt, Dr Africano Kangire, the head of the Coffee Research Centre in Kituuza, has said.
To speed up multiplication of the planting materials, scientists at Kituuza are using technology which enables them to get thousands of seedlings from a piece of leaf.
The new varieties developed at Kituuza can yield over 3,250kg per hectare.
“After the mass production and distribution of the wilt resistant varieties, the war on coffee wilt disease will come to an end,†Kangire said.
The wilt caused by a fungus, Gibberella xylarioides, first attacked Uganda in 1993.
Leaves of the affected plants dry up, stems develop yellow streaks and berries wither, often destroying an entire plantation. It affects robusta coffee, which accounts for 80% of Uganda’s coffee production.
Uganda has lost $2,040b in export earnings to the disease over the past 12 years and it is projected to cause a further loss of $150m in the 2008/2009 season.
Countrywide, there are over 134 million coffee plants that are susceptible to the disease.