Invasive species threaten agriculture and food security

(Invasive species spread wider and quicker as the world become smaller and warmer. Unlike humans, that take decades if not centuries to evolve, many of the insect pests that trouble the world reproduce so quickly that they evolve to adapt to changes in their environment, be that weather or pesticides, in months or just few years. Also as we have played a key role in ensuring their freedom of travel, the human-induced warming is making many more places comfortable for their existence – Robert McLean.)

As the world becomes more connected, invasive species are spreading further. While these species pose threats to our ecosystems, they arguably pose an even greater threat to our agriculture and food security.

Insect pests such as silverleaf whitefly, Asian gypsy moth, and Khapra beetle, are all ranked as major threats and can have significant and far-reaching impacts on agriculture and forest industries around the world.

Many researchers have looked at individual pests to assess their potential threat to particular countries. But no one has ever looked at the invasive threat from a large number of invasive species on agricultural systems at the global level.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a research scientist at the CSIRO who specialises in invasive species, Dean Paini - “Global agriculture study finds developing countries most threatened by invasive pest species.”