A study across six continents -Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia links climate change with wheat blast; warns crop yield could drop by 75% in South America and Africa by 2050

A new study has warned of links between warming climate and the devastating fungal plant disease wheat blast. The disease currently poses a threat to 6.4 million hectares and by 2050, climate change is likely make the situation worse and threaten 13.5 million hectares of cropland, the study warned. Wheat blast alone has the potential to cut wheat production worldwide by 13 per cent. However, the study cautioned that other effects of climate change could cause yields to fall even further. The analysis focused exclusively on nations with wheat growing areas and covered 86 countries across six continents — Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Asia. South America and Africa will be the most vulnerable regions to wheat blast in the future climate, with up to 75 per cent of their wheat acreage at risk by 2050, warned the team of researchers from institutes International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (also known as CIMMYT), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, ...