Science, Innovation, and Partnerships in Action
International Day of Plant Health
Every year, farmers around the world lose 20–40% of their crops to pests and diseases. Behind each lost harvest is a family that goes hungry, an income that disappears, and a market that falters. On International Day of Plant Health, the CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) reflects on the science, tools, and partnerships that are turning the tide against a growing plant-health crisis, and what must still be done.
A Growing Threat to Global Food Systems
Emerging and re-emerging pests and diseases are increasingly threatening agricultural production worldwide. Epidemics in staple crops, invasive pests, and toxin-producing fungi are becoming more frequent, more severe, and harder to manage, driven by agricultural intensification, a rapidly changing climate, and expanding global trade.
The consequences fall hardest on the Global South, where surveillance, diagnostics, and rapid-response systems are often limited. Losses directly threaten food and feed availability, farmer incomes, nutrition, biodiversity, and economic stability.
Recent years have seen major outbreaks of fall armyworm, desert locust, maize lethal necrosis, cassava brown streak disease, banana bunchy top virus, banana Fusarium wilt Tropical Race 4, wheat stem rust, rice yellowing syndrome, potato purple top, soybean rust, forage leaf rust, smut of Napier grass, and cassava witches' broom disease. Invisible yet frequent threats, such as aflatoxin contamination, compound these visible losses, undermining food safety, human and livestock health, and trade.
Climate change amplifies every risk. Shifting temperatures and rainfall patterns alter pest and pathogen distributions, intensify vector activity, and create conditions that favor disease emergence. Greater movement of people, planting materials, agricultural commodities, and conflict-driven human migration accelerates the transboundary spread of threats, creating a global biosecurity challenge that cuts across crops, ecosystems, and the boundaries between human, animal, and plant health.
CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program: Science-Driven Preparedness and Response
The CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) addresses these threats through farmer-focused, science-driven, innovation-led approaches that strengthen plant biosecurity and agricultural resilience. The program integrates advanced technologies, including metagenomics, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and digital advisory systems, with deep field expertise to improve preparedness and response to climate and pest- and disease-related shocks.
Strengthening Early Warning and Risk Prediction
Timely information saves crops. A key SFP priority is building integrated early warning systems that provide accurate, actionable predictions of farm-level impacts from temperature, water stress, pest outbreaks, and disease spread. Using satellite imagery, remote sensing, and AI-powered analytics, these systems enable early detection and identification of emerging threats, better forecasting, and timely advisory services to farmers, extension agents, and policymakers.
Two innovations developed by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) illustrate this approach:
Digital and AI-Enabled Biosecurity Solutions
Digital agriculture is rapidly becoming a frontline defense against plant health threats. SMART CROP solutions, developed by ICRISAT and partners, deploy satellite imaging, remote sensing, and AI/machine learning for real-time crop stress monitoring and climate forecasting. With more than 4,800 pigeon pea and chickpea-growing farmers digitally onboarded in Telangana and Karnataka, India, these tools enable live monitoring of farm-level pest and disease risk, prescriptive advisories, and farmer soil health cards — transforming data into decisions.
Elsewhere in the program, a novel Electrochemical Lateral-Flow Assay with Linked Analytics (ELLA) approach, developed by IITA and Imperial College London , has been piloted for in-field detection of cassava brown streak virus in Tanzania — bringing rapid diagnostics out of the laboratory and directly to farmers. CIMMYT 's satellite-based static and dynamic crop distribution maps in Ethiopia are also improving surveillance and forecasting for wheat stem rust spread.
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) developed an automated real-time media analysis powered by a large language model (LLM) to extract detailed information from news articles on five key pests and diseases. It includes an interactive crop disease dashboard that provides real-time insights and strengthens crop health monitoring. Simulation models for rice leaf blast, bacterial blight, and neck blast were augmented using EPIRICE from IRRI, which AfricaRice also used to predict rice blast disease occurrence in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda.
Integrated Approaches: From Genebanks to Farmer Fields
No single tool or technology can protect plants alone. CGIAR Plant Health, anchored in SFP, integrates with Genebanks and Breeding-for-Tomorrow programs to identify resistance sources and develop resilient crop varieties. Germplasm Health Units safeguard germplasm biosecurity and prevent the transboundary spread of diseases. Clean seed system innovations ensure disease-free planting materials reach farmers growing vegetatively propagated crops such as cassava, potato, and banana.
A powerful example of integrated partnership is the Consortium for Red Palm Weevil Control, led by ICARDA; International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and International Crops Research Institute For The Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) , International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), and supported by the United Arab Emirates and Gates Foundation. This initiative applies biological control, biotechnology, digital tools, and integrated pest management (IPM) to tackle one of the world's most destructive invasive palm pest, while strengthening regional biosecurity systems.
Innovation in Action: Tackling Emerging Threats Across CGIAR
The following examples illustrate how SFP researchers and partners are responding to specific threats across crops, regions, and scales.
Plant Biosecurity Is Everyone's Responsibility
The International Day of Plant Health is a call to action. Strong biosecurity systems protect biodiversity, enable safe trade, improve nutrition, and strengthen climate resilience. But achieving them requires commitment across every level — from the farmer's field to the national policymaker's desk to the international research agenda.
The CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program calls for:
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As emerging pests and diseases continue to evolve, strengthening preparedness, prevention, and rapid response is not optional, it is a critical pillar of resilient food systems and sustainable development. Protecting plants means protecting people.
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The CGIAR plant health group is tackling over 40 import pests, diseases, and mycotoxins that threaten food and nutrition security in the global south. This blog provides information about the CGIAR Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) and its farmer-focused, science-driven approach to strengthening plant biosecurity and agricultural resilience.