Improving cost-effectiveness of brown rot control: the value of bio-economic modelling.

Since 1995, the Dutch potato production chain has been hit by several outbreaks of brown rot, a quarantine disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum race 3, biovar 2. To avoid establishment of brown rot in the potato production chain and avert the consequences on potato export, the Dutch government has implemented an intensive and costly control policy. It is unknown whether this policy is cost-effective. A bio-economic model was developed that can be used to simulate the effect of a control policy on the epidemiology and economic consequences of brown rot in the Dutch potato production chain. Two applications of this model are presented, based on which the potential contribution of the model to cost-effective control of brown rot is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]