CHIANG RAI – A team of UK scientists, including researchers at the University of York, are in Chiang Rai Province researching how to apply drone technology to prevent the spread of a fungal coffee rust disease (Hemileia Vastatrix) which devastates coffee crops around the world.
Coffee plants are vulnerable to a fungal disease known as coffee leaf rust or Hemileia Vastatrix which poses an ongoing problem to farmers in the coffee-growing industry.
Coffee is grown in many areas of the developing world and if a coffee plantation is wiped out by coffee rust disease it can destroy an entire family’s livelihood. Many farmers can’t afford expensive fungicides that could prevent coffee rust.
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The research team have been working in the coffee growing regions of Northern Thailand to test how to use drones to spot the disease early and prevent its spread.
There is huge consumer demand for coffee world-wide and, according to the British Coffee Association, we now drink around ..
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