Agro-Terrorism: US Case Highlights Silent Threat to India
The recent indictment of two Chinese nationals in the United States for attempting to smuggle a dangerous plant pathogen has cast a stark light on the often-underestimated threat of agro-terrorism. This stealthy form of warfare, involving the deliberate introduction of biological agents to cripple a nation's agricultural sector, poses a significant global risk. While the US incident was reportedly averted, it highlights a vulnerability that nations heavily reliant on agriculture, including India, have allegedly faced and must continue to guard against.
Agro-terrorism is the malicious use of plant or animal pathogens to cause widespread destruction of crops or livestock. The objectives are typically to inflict severe economic damage, create food shortages, destabilise social order, and undermine public confidence. Its appeal to malicious actors lies in its relative cost-effectiveness, the difficulty in detecting attacks in their early stages, and the potential for devastating, far-reaching consequences. A significant loophole also exists: there is currently no comprehensive international legal framework that specifically imposes criminal penalties for biological attacks targeting non-human entities like crops or animals.
The concept of weaponising agriculture is not new. Historical records indicate that during World War II, Germany reportedly targeted British potato crops with Colorado potato beetles. Similarly, Japan explored options to attack wheat fields in the US and the Soviet Union with grain rust spores. The United States, too, is documented to have stockpiled significant quantities of Puccinia tritici spores, the fungus responsible for wheat stem rust, during the same period, initially considering its use against Japan's rice crops before the deployment of atomic bombs.
The recent US case brings this historical threat into the modern era. Zunyong Liu, described as a researcher in China, and his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian, who worked at a University of Michigan laboratory, were charged with attempting to smuggle Fusarium graminearum. This fungus is officially classified in the US as a "potential agro-terrorism weapon." It has the capacity to decimate vital crops such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Beyond crop destruction, ingestion of the fungus by humans can lead to severe health issues, including vomiting and liver damage. The US Justice Department has highlighted that this pathogen is already responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide annually. US officials also alleged that Jian had received funding from the Chinese government for her research on this pathogen, a detail the Trump administration labeled a "grave national security concern."
India, with approximately 17% of its GDP derived from agriculture and about 55% of its population engaged in agriculture-related activities (as per the 2011 Census), is particularly vulnerable. The nation's extensive agricultural lands, especially in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh that share borders with Pakistan and China, amplify this susceptibility.
India has reportedly experienced incidents that bear the hallmarks of agro-terrorism. A 2016 research paper by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) detailed an outbreak of Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT), a wheat-blast-causing fungus, in two districts of West Bengal, which had previously been reported in Bangladesh. The Indian government successfully contained its spread by implementing a three-year ban on wheat cultivation in the affected districts and prohibiting cultivation within five kilometers of the international border in other districts adjacent to Bangladesh. While concrete proof was lacking, there were suspicions that the pest was deliberately introduced into India's agro-ecosystem.
Another instance cited in research, though originating in Pakistan, illustrates the regional vulnerability. In 2015, a severe outbreak of cotton leaf curl virus devastated cotton crops in Pakistan, leading to an estimated USD 630-670 million in losses and reportedly causing at least 15 cotton farmer suicides. Investigations found that the virus sequences linked to this outbreak had not been previously reported in India, but the incident highlights the potential for rapid and widespread agricultural damage from such pathogens in the subcontinent.
The quiet and stealthy nature of agro-terrorism, combined with its potential for catastrophic economic and social disruption, demands heightened vigilance and robust biosecurity measures globally. For nations like India, whose food security and economic stability are deeply intertwined with agriculture, understanding and mitigating this threat is of paramount importance.
