Banana growers seek government help vs Panama disease

MANILA, Philippines – Local banana growers have renewed calls for the establishment of a banana research institute to help address food security issues and combat the spread of Panama disease.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) is urging the incoming administration to create an institution that will help the industry stop the disease that is wiping out the fruit across the world.

“The Philippine banana industry, backed by scientific studies, is apprehensive that the industry will deteriorate if it does not get the proper government support. With the research institute, the survival of the industry will be assured,” PBGEA executive director Stephen Antig said.

Antig underscored the need to sustain the competitiveness of Philippine bananas in the world market amid the threat of Fusarium Wilt or Panama disease.

Scientific studies showed that a new strain of the Panama disease known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4) is besetting the production of Cavendish banana, today’s most popular cultivar.

“If you can’t control it, you can not export any bananas. Its management is actually prevention, we should prevent the spread of the disease in the plantations. The solution is to prevent its spread by quarantine. The disease does not spread rapidly but it moves in the soil, it moves in the water,” Filipino scientist Agustin Molina said.

Furthermore, banana growers are urging incoming president Rodrigo Duterte to make the banana industry one of the priority sectors in the Philippine Export Development Plan.  In particular, it wants a bill calling for the creation of a banana research institute to be refilled in Congress.

The bill has been proposed during the Arroyo and Aquino administration but was not considered as a priority measure.

Currently, efforts to manage and prevent the spread of the disease are all coming from the private sector.

PBGEA has established a three-hectare experimental site to determine the resilience of new banana varieties against TR4.

The area, already infected by TR4, is planted with Gran Naine, which is the current variety of Cavendish being exported and two new varieties, the Giant Cavendish Tissue Culture Variety (GCTCV) 218 and GCTCV 219.

PBGEA technical committee chair Maria Emilia Fabregas said experiment revealed that the Gran Naine is highly susceptible to TR4 while GCTCV 218 and 219 were both resistant.

“However, it is still too early to say which of the two cultivars – 218 and 219 – will be best to substitute Gran Naine, when it is no longer viable to pursue its production,” Fabregas said.

“The industry has to adopt, it has to change some paradigm. It’s no longer business as usual. TR4 should not be taken lightly,” Molina added.

Nevertheless, Antig said banana growers are confident Duterte will keep his promise to prioritize peace and order particularly in Mindanao as the New People’s Army (NPA) has been attacking banana plantations in the region.

Insurgency affects almost all industries in the area since rebel atrocities involve extortion, arson, black propaganda, infiltration of labor unions, and meddling with agri-business venture agreements.

“If the turbulent situation in Mindanao continues, industries might start packing up and transfer to other provinces and cities or even to neighbouring ASEAN countries, which are eyeing the Philippines’ export markets,” he said.