The Philippine banana industry asked the government to establish a banana research institute to help the industry come up with solutions against diseases.
Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association executive director Stephen Antig said the research institute would help sustain the competitiveness of the Philippine bananas amid the threat of Panama disease.
Scientists earlier warned that a new strain of the Panama disease known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4) was a very serious disease in Cavendish banana plantations. It is a virulent disease that when farms are infested, the pathogens cannot be removed anymore.
Panama disease infects the roots of bananas. It is a type of fusarium wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and cannot be controlled chemically.
“ Just like Sigatoka, if you can’t control it you cannot export any bananas. If they will not do aerial spray to control Sigatoka, we cannot export. Our bananas will not be accepted in the market. It is also done in Latin America, that’s also how they manage Sigatoka, through aerial spraying,” said Filipino scientist Agustin Molina.