With a continuous rise in Pakistan’s population, it is essential to increase crop yield to combat imminent food security. The survey of the last five years (2015- 2020) shows a decrease in the rate of production of the wheat crop from 2.2% to 0.5%. The main reasons behind these production losses are poor crop management, weather variations, and the attack of several diseases such as rust, tan spot, black chaff, etc. Wheat rust is the most hazardous disease which can cause a severe deficit in the wheat production rate, leading to a threat to food security in Pakistan. Its first attack can be spotted in the fourth week of February in different districts of Punjab, which affects almost 2.88% of the total Wheat crop. After the first appearance, it rapidly spreads and damages almost 30% of the crop within a month.

the challenge:

To identify the rust attack in the early stages so that remedial actions could be performed timely to minimize the loss caused by the rust.