Asia Pacific banana experts to meet in Los Baños Oct. 7-10

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – To top banana researchers and policymakers in the Asia Pacific region, all roads will lead to this internationally known university town in the second week of October.

The scientific activity that will draw them to Los Baños is the First Steering Committee Meeting of the Relaunched Banana Asia Pacific Network (BAPNET) on Oct. 7-10.

Venue of the four-day meeting is the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD).

Main speakers at the opening program are DOST Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor, and PCARRD Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon.

Organized by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP) through its local partners – PCARRD and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research – the meeting aims primarily to invigorate the banana industry, which affects millions of small-scale banana growers in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Agustin Molina, regional coordinator for Asia and the Pacific of INIBAP and concurrently BAPNET executive secretary, told The STAR that the meeting is timely as the top banana scientists in the region will address problems that beset the local banana industry such as devastating diseases.

"INIBAP programs have produced high-yielding and resistant varieties that are now available for multiplication and use by farmers in the BAPNET member countries," Dr. Molina said. "These varieties are good as fresh or cooked bananas."

The meeting participants will come from the 12 countries and two institutions that compose BAPNET. The countries are Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The member institutions are the Taiwan Banana Research Institute (TBRI) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), formerly South Pacific Commission.

INIBAP, a program of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), was established in November 1984 to coordinate research efforts, disseminate research information, and generate funds to support priority R&D activities on banana and plantain (cooking banana).

Recognizing the enormous complexity involved in world banana agriculture and to ensure relevance and flexibility in its programs thrusts, INIBAP subsequently set up regional networks in West Africa, East Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and finally Asia and the Pacific.

The Asia Pacific Network (ASPNET) was set up in 1991 with Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and TBRI as initial members. Through the years, the network expanded to include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, SPC – and lately Cambodia and Papua New Guinea.

During a meeting in Sri Lanka last October, the Asia Pacific Network was renamed Banana Asia Pacific Network or BAPNET.

It was envisioned that Barnett’s relaunching would result in stronger partnership among the national agricultural research systems (NARS) to pursue agreed upon research agenda for greater mutual benefit.

BAPNET now operates under the guidance of a steering committee and has been specially involved in supporting banana germplasm collection, conservation, and evaluation.

It coordinates regional collaboration and communication among banana researchers and assists in the intro-regional exchange of information.