BP Singh

IIPlant Quarantine Regulations and theirimplementation in IndiaRam NathIntroductionIt can safely be stated that movement of pests and diseasesacross national boundaries has been taking place ever since manstarted transporting seed and other propagating materials fromone country to another for diversification of agriculture andincreasing food production. However, the magnitude of croplosses that could be caused by the introduced .R1?~ts and ctiS.5!_?sgswas realised around the middle of the last century when the potatocrop was completely devastated by the late blight pathogen(Phytophthora infestans) introduced from Central America resultingin the well known Irish famine of 1845. During 1860's powderymildew (Uncinula necatar),root eating aphid (Phylloxera vitifalia)and downy mildew (Plasmopara viticala) got introduced into :&e.:nc;eon the nursery stocks imported from tTor.th .America. The wineindustry of France was virtually anhilated due to the combinedeffect of the three diseases/pests. Although true nature of thedisease was not yet fully understood, farmers were convinced thatthese got introduced from America. Alarmed by these diseaseoutbreaks,governments in European countries started puttingembargo on the import of American products. In the neighbouringcountry Sri Lanka, rust (Hemileia vastatrix) severely mauled coffeeplantation bringing down coffee production from 400 millionpounds in 1870 to just 5 million pounds by 1889. Because of theseand other disease/pest outbreaks in different parts of the world,certain countries like Germany, France, Australia, USA and UK