The importance of fungicides for feeding the world
L. GIANESSI (1). (1) Crop Life Foundation, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
The worldwide crop fungicide market is approximately $10 billion. High yields of wheat in Europe and rice in Asia depend on fungicides for control of key diseases. The use of fungicides in Brazil prevents the loss of about 50% of the country’s soybean crop to rust. Fungicide use is low in Africa and smallholder yields of groundnuts and maize are typically reduced by two-thirds due to uncontrolled diseases. In India, fungicide use could greatly increase the production of pulse crops - a key source of protein. Current low yields of pulses are a major cause of hunger in India since poor people cannot afford them. Worldwide potato production is dependent on fungicide sprays to control late blight, and countries where fungicides are not widely-used (such as Russia and in Africa) potato losses to disease are large. Worldwide, most fruit and vegetable crop fields are regularly treated with fungicides to produce high yields and to produce crops acceptable to consumers. Worldwide export of tropical export crops (banana, coffee, mango) would collapse without regular fungicide applications. In wheat, fungicide applications have increased in China, Australia, and India due to the breakdown of resistance to rust. Timely applications of fungicides in wheat are preventing huge yield losses.
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