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Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India

The emergence of wheat-blast in Bangladesh in the 2015–16 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop threatens the food security of South Asia. A potential spread of the disease from Bangladesh to India could have devastating impacts on India’s overall food security as wheat is its second most important stap...

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Autores principales: Mottaleb, Khondoker A., Singh, Pawan K., Sonder, Kai, Kruseman, Gideon, Erenstein, Olaf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6382110/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30785905
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211410
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author Mottaleb, Khondoker A.
Singh, Pawan K.
Sonder, Kai
Kruseman, Gideon
Erenstein, Olaf
author_facet Mottaleb, Khondoker A.
Singh, Pawan K.
Sonder, Kai
Kruseman, Gideon
Erenstein, Olaf
author_sort Mottaleb, Khondoker A.
collection PubMed
description The emergence of wheat-blast in Bangladesh in the 2015–16 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop threatens the food security of South Asia. A potential spread of the disease from Bangladesh to India could have devastating impacts on India’s overall food security as wheat is its second most important staple food crop. West Bengal state in eastern India shares a 2,217 km-long border with Bangladesh and has a similar agro-ecology, enhancing the prospects of the disease entering India via West Bengal. The present study explores the possibility of a ‘wheat holiday’ policy in the nine border districts of West Bengal. Under the policy, farmers in these districts would stop wheat cultivation for at least two years. The present scoping study assesses the potential economic feasibility of alternative crops to wheat. Of the ten crops considered, maize, gram (chickpea), urad (black gram), rapeseed and mustard, and potatoes are found to be potentially feasible alternative crops. Any crop substitution would need support to ease the transition including addressing the challenges related to the management of alternative crops, ensuring adequate crop combinations and value chain development. Still, as wheat is a major staple, there is some urgency to support further research on disease epidemiology and forecasting, as well as the development and dissemination of blast-resistant wheat varieties across South Asia.
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spelling pubmed-63821102019-03-01 Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India Mottaleb, Khondoker A. Singh, Pawan K. Sonder, Kai Kruseman, Gideon Erenstein, Olaf PLoS One Research Article The emergence of wheat-blast in Bangladesh in the 2015–16 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop threatens the food security of South Asia. A potential spread of the disease from Bangladesh to India could have devastating impacts on India’s overall food security as wheat is its second most important staple food crop. West Bengal state in eastern India shares a 2,217 km-long border with Bangladesh and has a similar agro-ecology, enhancing the prospects of the disease entering India via West Bengal. The present study explores the possibility of a ‘wheat holiday’ policy in the nine border districts of West Bengal. Under the policy, farmers in these districts would stop wheat cultivation for at least two years. The present scoping study assesses the potential economic feasibility of alternative crops to wheat. Of the ten crops considered, maize, gram (chickpea), urad (black gram), rapeseed and mustard, and potatoes are found to be potentially feasible alternative crops. Any crop substitution would need support to ease the transition including addressing the challenges related to the management of alternative crops, ensuring adequate crop combinations and value chain development. Still, as wheat is a major staple, there is some urgency to support further research on disease epidemiology and forecasting, as well as the development and dissemination of blast-resistant wheat varieties across South Asia. Public Library of Science 2019-02-20 /pmc/articles/PMC6382110/ /pubmed/30785905 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211410 Text en © 2019 Mottaleb et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mottaleb, Khondoker A.
Singh, Pawan K.
Sonder, Kai
Kruseman, Gideon
Erenstein, Olaf
Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title_full Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title_fullStr Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title_full_unstemmed Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title_short Averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: In search of alternative crops in West Bengal, India
title_sort averting wheat blast by implementing a ‘wheat holiday’: in search of alternative crops in west bengal, india
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6382110/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30785905
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211410
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