Kaffebladrost i Latinamerika - En översiktsstudie i behandlingsmetoder och ekonomiska möjligheter

Sammanfattning: Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) is a patogen currently threatening sustainable coffee production all across the world where coffee is grown. Yield losses can reach up to 50 % of the production in Brazil and primarily affect regions at low altitude. Costs associated with the rust has been estimated to 616 million USD from 2012-2014 in Central America. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the three different strategies used in handling the pathogen with regard to environmental aspects and economic possibilities of coffee growers in Latin America. This study demonstrates that while chemical control is efficient, other measures must be taken to ensure a sustainable agriculture. Despite initial success with resistance breeding many cultivars have lost resistance within a few years as a result of an evolution of H. vastatrix, pointing to the need of developing better cultivars with sustainable resistance and to then increase the availability and economic possibilities for small-scale coffee growers to incorporate such methods. Lastly, agroecological control of coffee leaf rust has shown potential by promoting an autonomous pest control and sustainability. However, the system has been demonstrated to be complex with different pathogen suppressive results at different locations, demanding excellent knowledge before proper recommendations can be made. Furthermore, the agroecolocial effects and costs associated with the method need to be quantified and compared to chemical control and control by resistance in order to aid the decision-making of coffee growers with the big aim of creating a sustainable agriculture with less severe pest occurence.