International network to support Philippine banana industry

LOS BANOS, Laguna -- An International agricultural network has committed its support for the troubled local banana industry.

"INIBAP will put priority in supporting and participating in activities that will improve banana production and profitability of small holding farmers," stated Dr. Agustin B. Molina, regional director of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain-Asia and Pacific Network (INIBAP-ASPNET).

Based at the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) here, INIBAP-ASPNET was set up in 1991 to contribute to sustainable increased production of and productivity in banana and plantain (cooking banana) in Asia and the Pacific.

INIBAP had earlier been established in Montpellier, France, in 1985 to accelerate Musa (banana) improvement research and to introduce an international perspective into such work. Since 1994, INIBAP has been operating as a program of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (CGIAR), a member of the Washington, DC-based Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Dr. Molina reported that through its International Musa Testing Program, INIBAP has identified superior banana hybrids and superior landraces that are now ready to be tested in farmers' fields and eventually disseminated and adopted by farmers.

Moreover, disease management techniques have been identified and are now available for packaging and field testing.

"The tissue culture technology, coupled with virus indexing, can play a vital role in disease management system that may be the key to the rehabilitation of the virus-ravaged smallholding farms in the country," Dr. Molina stated in a paper presented at the Philippine National Research and Development System for Agriculture and Fisheries-International Agricultural Research Forum held recently at the EDSA-Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

Dr. Molina, one-time vice chancellor of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), asserted that the development and implementation of an Integrated Pest Management (IMP) system, especially for the banana smallholdings, are the key to the survival of the country's banana industry.

According to him, banana virus diseases have practically eliminated traditional dessert bananas in the country.

Recent surveys and field visits indicate that many smallholder farmers are now abandoning banana growing, particularly the "lakatan" and "bungulan" varieties, because of serious epidemic of diseases such as banana bunchy top virus and Fusarium wilt.

Black Sigatoka, the most serious leaf spot disease, is reducing yield by as much as 80 percent in small farmers' fields. "Bugtok" disease seriously affect the "saba" industry in the Visayas and Mindanao.

"The impact of these diseases is most severe for smallholder farmers who do not have the economic and technical capabilities to manage these problems," Dr. Molina stated.

He emphasized that the Philippines is the second largest banana producer and the number one banana exporter in Asia today. Except for the export banana, the crop is grown largely by smallholder farmers, traded by local entrepreneurs, and consumed locally.

Being in the region considered as banana's center of origin, the Philippines boasts of many famous cultivars such as "lakatan," "latundan," "saba," and even Cavendihs.

"Undoubtedly, banana is an important food for Filipinos, source of income for local farmers, and an important source of foreign exchange from export," Dr. Molina concluded.