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food security
09 April 20
Sub-saharan Africa
Soybean has been the fastest growing broad land crop for the last 20 years as farmers attempt to meet the rising demand for a variety of feed, food, and industrial products. As soybean production across Africa is expected to increase, this will likely lead to an increase in the prevalence of soybean disease. Soybean diseases of particular interest in Africa include frogeye leaf spot, red leaf blotch, rust, and sudden death syndrome. Diseases may be introduced to the crop through human activity, seeds, vectors, or water and wind. In other cases, such as with the fungus that causes red leaf blotch, the pathogen may jump from another host to soybean when introduced. Finding disease resistant genes to develop commercial cultivars that can prevent yield loss due to soybean diseases like red leaf blotch is an effective way to increase production and stabilize crops across Sub-Saharan Africa.
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