NSW Department of Primary Industries | CSU Homepage
30 May 2006
E H Graham Centre field research on East Timorese rice diseases
In March 2006, Associate Professor Gavin Ash travelled to East Timor to undertake a survey of rice diseases. The survey was undertaken in conjunction with scientists from the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy and aimed to ascertain the level of risk posed by the diseases to the Australian rice industry. The survey also helped to highlight the importance of disease to rice production in East Timor and to heighten the awareness of local farmers and advisors. The survey was partially funded by the Graham Centre in conjunction with funds from the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity granted to Assoc Prof Ash, Dr Ric Cother and Dr Vincent Lanoiselet.
East Timor has a population of almost one million people, occupying half the island of Timor . Eighty per cent of the population, an estimated 139,000 households, relies on agriculture, with cropping providing most of the staple food intake. The country, formerly a Portuguese colony and Indonesian province, voted for independence in August 1999. Food security has been fragile since that time. The major subsistence crop in East Timor is rice. There are a number of important diseases of rice than occur in Southeast Asia which do not occur in Australia , the most important being rice blast.
Rice blast is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe grisea . Research in NSW by Lanoiselet et al. (2002) has shown that this disease, if introduced, poses a real threat to the southern Australian rice industry. One avenue for introduction of this disease is through East Timor to northern Australia . Cyclonic depressions and normal air currents could potentially carry conidia of plant pathogenic fungi from northern Australia into the southern states. Therefore, the aim of this project was to identify and isolate M. grisea from East Timor and to return these isolates (under quarantine permit) to Australia for further characterisation.
The trip provided many opportunities to survey East Timorese rice production and their key facilities for quarantine and plant disease research. The rice and other agricultural crops surveyed in fields and markets had symptoms of a variety of pathogens whose abundance ranged from low to moderate and epidemic levels. Facilities that were toured included the rudimentary laboratory of the airport quarantine service, as well as the agricultural campus and engineering school of the National University of Timor Lorosa'e which have been rebuilt with the assistance of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Japanese government. The campus has a number of laboratories of reasonable standard that are used for postgraduate research and some training of local staff.
The trip provided an opportunity to visit the ACIAR 'Seeds of Life' site in Alieu. The 'Seeds of Life' project has the goals of 1) improving food security through the introduction, testing and distribution to farmers of improved germplasm of the major food crops and, 2) enhancing the capacity of scientists and technicians to independently develop and manage crop improvement programs for the benefit of village farmers and the nation.
At the close of the trip the party was afforded the opportunity to meet with the head of the plant protection group in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and with the Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture to discuss future research on the identification and management of plant diseases in East Timorese agriculture with the involvement of ACIAR.