The Hon John Kerin AM FTSE (Chair)
Dr Bruce Standen (Coordinator)
Mr Dick
Austen AO
Hon
Prof Lester Burgess
Dr John
Christian AO FTSE
Mr George
Davey
Mr Neil
Inall AO
Prof Bob Lawn
Dr Helen
Scott-Orr
Em
Prof Graham Swain AM
Mr Bob Whan
AM
In 1999, the Crawford Fund expanded its agricultural training scheme with the appointment of a NSW Committee chaired by Australia's former Minister for Primary Industry and Energy, the Hon John Kerin.
The Committee is identifying and expanding agricultural training opportunities, relevant to the NSW rural sector, that will bring together Australian experts and people from developing countries to improve food production and processing in developing countries.
Current emphasis of training programs is in areas having high value to developing countries in the Asian region and in which competence and experience of a very high order resides amongst government agencies and universities within NSW. These include: plant and animal breeding, animal disease diagnosis and preparedness, weed management, natural resource management - land, forestry, fisheries and water, and food safety and preservation.
The sugarcane industry in Laos is small, only recently established and is located in the Savannakhet region of south-central Laos. There are two factories, the largest of which is the Thai-owned Mitr Laos sugar factory located near the small town of Seno. This factory is aiming to expand its operation very significantly in the next couple of years from 10,000ha to around 30,000 ha planted to sugarcane. Total current sugarcane production in the Mitr Laos factory area is not large – around 360,000 tonnes of sugarcane annually. A second sugar factory (we didn’t get to see it) is also located in the Savannakhet area but is smaller than the Mitr Laos operation. This is called the Konkem Sugar Factory.
The sugarcane inspection team in a severely
affected sugarcane crop in the Mitr Laos sugar factory area. From left: cane
farmer, Professor Burgess, ‘Pin’, ‘Pai’, ‘Noi’, and ‘Lay’.
White leaf disease (WLD) of sugarcane is an easily recognised disease present in several parts of south east Asia (Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and several other south Asian countries). WLD has close similarity to several other diseases caused by phytoplasmas, including grassy shoot disease (GSD) (a disease known from south Asia and parts of SE Asia) and green grassy shoot disease (GGSD) (a major disease of sugarcane in Thailand and Nghe An Province, Vietnam). WLD is characterised by the production of white leaves with no small grassy tillers; GSD leads to the production of grassy tillering with some exhibiting chlorosis, while GGSD leads to many grassy tillers, but no chlorosis in these tillers. Severe stunting is evident with WLD and the disease very significantly reduces crop yields.
My time in Laos involved a three-day field visit to the Savannakhet district of south-central Laos followed by time spent in the Laos Capital, Vientiane, assisting with training Lao plant pathologists. Our survey showed that WLD occurs at a very high incidence in many Lao sugarcane crops. It is having a major impact on sugarcane yields in the country. Rapid industry expansion is being accompanied by rapid spread of WLD. Poor agronomic practices are also a consequence of this rapid expansion.
Considerable work is needed in Laos to control WLD; including extension of appropriate management strategies for the disease and research into the local leafhopper vector. Training of local pathology staff, and their subsequent work with the local sugar factory will be key elements in bringing WLD under control in Laos.
Samples of WLD were collected from the field for assay in the BSES Indooroopilly molecular laboratory. These samples will be used to refine WLD molecular assay techniques to ensure BSES is better prepared to identify samples should an Australian disease incursion occur.