The Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Department has issued an alert after detecting Goss’s Wilt bacteria on maize in South Africa. 

It has been identified in the Free State, North West, Gauteng and Eastern Cape, according to department spokesperson Linda Page. It significantly reduces yields and quality.

“Official samples were collected after random surveys in collaboration with research institutions and government in the reported areas,” Page said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The pest was positively identified by molecular techniques Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequencing].” 

The department reaffirmed its commitment to conduct further research on the epidemiology and management of the pest to assist local maize producers. It was concurrently conducting delimiting surveys to assess the disease’s spread accurately. 

Maize is the only known economically important host of the pathogen. Over short distances, the disease spreads within fields by contacting leaves on adjacent plants. However, over long distances, transmission occurs through seed, although the seed-borne spread has proven to be very limited.

Goss’s Wilt is a bacterial disease that can be managed by planting highly resistant maize hybrids, reducing movement of infected stubble between fields and rotating host crops with non-host crops.  

The department encouraged farmers and community members to practice effective cultural control and to reduce movement of infected stubble between fields.

International travellers were also advised to avoid illegal importation of agricultural commodities into the country as this may lead to new pests and diseases that were expensive and difficult to manage. 

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