Potato late blight in developing countries

Potato is the fastest growing major crop in the developing world with important economic impact on many resource-poor farming families. Many factors limit production and profitability, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent yearly on fungicides alone, but little is known about direct losses, with experts agreeing that they are variable and frequently significant. Late blight is most severe in the mountainous areas of developing countries where weather conditions are favorable for disease. Variable topography and continuous production of potato and other late blight hosts, including tomato and in the Andes pear melon, make prediction of disease initiation or severity difficult.