MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture is looking to strengthen its efforts to curb diseases facing the local banana industry, as the agency seeks to plug the country’s P10-billion farm trade deficit.
Agriculture Undersecretary Philip Young said the agency is looking at solutions to mitigate the impact of plant disease on the local banana industry, one of the country’s top export products.
“We are now looking into what happened to our banana (industry), we used to be the second biggest exporter, now we’re fourth because of the disease that has been there for almost 20 years,” Young, who heads the DA’s high-value export crops and agri-fishery export development and promotion, told The STAR.
He said the DA is looking to tap a Singapore-based company to conduct a farm trial on a potential treatment facing the country’s banana growers.
“We have a program now working with some big company to do trials on the treatment of the disease. It is a hydro emission technology with a company based in Singapore,” Young added.
He noted that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) would be signed within the month to formalize the agreement and create a trial farm targeting bananas, as well as mangoes.
He added that the trial farm would be designed by the Bureau of Plant Industry, which would also identify the proposed sampling area.
In 2024, the Philippines slipped from its ranking as the second largest exporter of bananas globally. However, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently reported that the country regained its second-place spot last year.
Over the last two decades, the country’s banana industry has been devastated by the Fusarium wilt, also known as the Panama disease, which has spread throughout plantations causing production losses.
The soil-borne fungus blocks the plant’s vascular system and deprives it of minerals, nutrients and moisture, causing its eventual yellowing and death.
The country’s total banana exports in 2025 increased by 25.6 percent year-on-year to 2.93 million metric tons, according to the FAO.
Meanwhile, Young said his office seeks to address hurdles facing the country’s agricultural exports.
“It is not only about production, supply or marketing. We also have to consider our market access issue and competitiveness in terms of tariffs,” he added.
He said the DA would continue to work with other government agencies to address the other challenges in farm exports.
The agriculture department said earlier that it was looking to plug the P10 billion annual gap between farm exports and imports by opening new markets and identifying key products for overseas shipments.