Gov't, private sector cooperate to control banana disease

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna ,Philippines  – The government and the private sector have joined hands to control a plant disease that has been threatening to devastate the local banana industry.

In a recent meeting here, representatives of government research and development (R&D) institutions, an international agency, and the banana industry discussed short- and long-term strategies to fight the Panama disease or Fusarium wilt, which has been adversely affecting banana plantations in Mindanao

Represented in the dialogue were the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD), Bioversity International (BI), Pontmain Resources Inc., and Techno-Market Consolidators Inc.

Among the immediate steps recommended to neutralize Fusarium wilt is a two-pronged approach: early detection and monitoring and eradication.

Farmers will be trained to recognize the disease’s symptoms early so that infected plants can be immediately eradicated to prevent spread of the disease.

For the long term, on-site trials will be done on GCTCV-119, a Cavendish banana variety resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), which causes the disease. Moreover, a banana research center (BRC) will be established.

Bioversity International, through Lapanday Foods Corp. in Davao City, will produce planting materials through tissue culture to be distribute to PBGEA members. The mother plants will come from the National Germplasm Collection housed at the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry-National Crops Research and Development Center (DA-BPI-NCRDC) in Davao City.

BI (represented by Dr. Agustin Molina in the dialogue) and PCAARRD (represented by Dr. Joy Eusebio) will develop the protocol (guidelines) for crop management. PCAARRD will lead the project’s monitoring and evaluation.

A proposal on this for DOST-PCAARRD funding is in the offing.

Fusarium wilt is a soil-borne fungal disease that causes affected plants to get stunted, wilt, and produce dry hanging leaves. Caused by Foc, it was first reported in Panama in the 1890s, destroying more than 40,000 hectares of banana plants in Central and South America over a period of 50 years.

The disease has since found its way to other countries.

There are four known races of Foc: Races 1, 2, 3 and 4.

In the Philippines, occurrence of the disease is caused by Races 1 and 2, and recently by Tropical Race 4 (TR4). Foc infection in Cavendish banana has been reported in the country as early as the 1970s.

Surveys done in various parts of the country in 2011 showed the presence of TR4 in Mindanao, prompting PBGEA executive director Stephen Antig to issue a press statement last October on Fusarium wilt’s threat to the banana industry.

Government and private entities have been adopting R&D measures to save the industry from further depradation of Fusarium wilt.