Despite reassuring words from the Indian Minister of Agriculture at the start of the meeting ((A while ago the Indian Council for Agricultural Research also suggested that UG99 was not a major threat to wheat production in India)), FAO announced that delegates of the 31 countries represented at the “International Conference on Wheat Stem Rust Ug99 – A Threat to Food Security” in New Delhi have pledged to support prevention and control of UG99. They agreed:
- to share surveillance information;
- that a global early warning system should be immediately established;
- that plant breeding research should be intensified; and
- that rust resistant wheat varieties should be distributed to farmers.