R&D project may yet save troubled banana industry

An internationally-supported R&D project is taking shape as the "silver lining" of the dark clouds long mantling the country’s pest-and disease-ravaged banana industry.

At the core of the "Banana RDE Collaborative Project in Luzon" are disease-resistant varieties turned over to the government two years ago by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) through its Los Baños-based International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantation Banana Network in Asia and the Pacific (INIBAP-BAPNET).

"The varieties have been tested in many locations around the world and have proved to be resistant to diseases, high-yielding, and easy to grow. They are already being adopted with alacrity by poor farmers throughout Africa and Latin America, and the benefits are impressive," stated an IPGRI-INIBAP report released through Dr. Agustin B. Molina, INIBAP regional coordinator for Asia and the Pacific regional office based at IRRI in Los Baños.

Totaling 16, the improved varieties include dessert type similar to the Philippine "lakatan," bug higher-yielding and more resistant to diseases.

Some of the varieties are also of the cooking type, similar to the Philippine "saba." One of these varieties, named FHIA 21, is a cooking banana which is excellent for banana chip making.

Dr. Agustin said in a press briefing in Los Baños last March 15 that the introduced varieties are now available at the UP Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) and at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in Davao City.

The project is a collaborative effort with the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) and several state colleges and universities (SCUs). It aims to distribute and evaluate improved Musa and popular local banana varieties in selected areas in Luzon as a tool to rehabilitate the banana industry, which has long been ravaged by a number of banana pests and virus diseases.

Recent surveys indicated that many smallholder farmers have abandoned banana growing, particularly the "lakatan" and "bungulan" varieties, because of serious epidemic of diseases such as banana bunchy top virus and Fusarium wilt.

"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 said.

Collaborating in the project are the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMSU) in Bacnotan, La Union; Cavite State University (CavSU) in Indang; Quirino State College (QSC) in Diffun; Ilocos Sur Polytechnic state College (ISPSC) in Sta. Maria; Southern Luzon Polytechnic College (SLPC) in Lucban, Quezon; Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology (MISCAT) in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro; and Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) in Magalang.

To date, INIBAP-PCARRD reported, 32,197 tissue-cultured planting materials consisting of five improved hybrids and two locally-preferred cultivars have been distributed to five SCUs in Luzon where on-campus demonstration trials were et aside from on-farm verification trials were set aside from on-farm verification trials in farmers’ fields in four agro-ecological zones. – Rudy A. Fernandez