Stalking a Wheat Killer
As scientists make progress against Ug99, a fungus that threatens wheat crops worldwide, new methods to produce and distribute disease-resistant seeds must also be developed.
Ug99, a fungal disease known as wheat rust, could destroy 80 percent of all known wheat varieties. Scientists in Kenya's Rift Valley are joining a global fight against it.
Experts in Kenya report steady advances in developing varieties of wheat resistant to the stem-rust disease that threatens an essential crop. But progress is slow—and the stakes are high.
A virulent new version of a deadly fungus is ravaging wheat in Kenya's most fertile fields and spreading beyond Africa to threaten one of the world's principal food crops, according to the United N
Mariam was the victim of double bad luck: First, that mosquito gave her malaria. Second, it was cerebral malaria, a form of the disease that is so severe it often kills children.
Kenyan farmers who can not afford pesticides watched wheat whither in the fields as a new strain of stem rust drained the plants of nutrients.
Costa Kiggundu had one question for an American visitor to her home in a gritty Kampala slum: "What will happen if you stop sending the drugs?"
See Sharon Schmickle's slideshow at MinnPost.com.
My hotel room in Nairobi is a decontamination site right now.
Edward Kosen's offer to slaughter a sheep in honor of my visit was a great breakthrough.
On top of his losses to wheat stem rust, George Mukindia watched 30 acres of his wheat burn in the flames of Kenya's recent post-election violence.
At open-air farm markets, Mawe Robbins and James Ockira were the only vendors I could find selling whole kernels of wheat.
Gateways
Grantee
Fred de Sam Lazaro is director of the Project for Under-Told Stories at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, a program that combines international journalism and teaching. He has served with The...
Grantee
Through mid-2007, Sharon was a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, most recently as a foreign correspondent. She currently writes for the innovative news site MinnPost.com. In 2003,...