Most of the information on the rapid spread of soybean rust in Africa was graciously provided by Dr. Clive Levy, Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe. It should be noted that some of the information is "word-of-mouth". Please report any additional information on the distribution of soybean rust (or corrections) to Annalisa Ariatti.
Soybean rust has been present in Africa for many years (Bromfield 1984). Bromfield indcates that Phakopsora pachyrhizi was reported on legumes other than soybean in Ghana, San Tome, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire (CMI Distribution Map No. 504, 1975). The first report that the pathogen was severely affecting soybean in Africa came from Uganda in 1997, indicating that the disease had arrived in that country and Rwanda in 1996, likely from India on the Monsoon winds (Miles et al. 2003, Levy personal communication, http://www.agnic.org/pmp/2001/pss030901.html). The pathogen moved southward to Zimbabwe in 1998 and westward to Nigeria the following year (Akinsanmi et al. 2001, http://www.agnic.org/pmp/2001/pss030901a.html). Central Zambia and southern Mozambique also recorded infections in 1999. Soybean rust appeared on soybean in South Africa in 2001 (http://www.agnic.org/pmp/2001/pss032201.html) and in Cameroon the following year (Nguimgo, B., IITA. personal communication with Levy). There are also unconfirmed reports of P. pachyrhizi infestations on soybean elsewhere in Africa. The “Suspected but unconfirmed” classification on the map includes countries for which soybean rust has been observed on hosts other than soybean.

The map was compiled by Annalisa Ariatti