Tags: Agribusiness
By Anna Valmero
DAVAO CITY, DAVAO DEL SUR – Following the devastation in Mindanao’s banana plantations, the Department of Agriculture (DA) teamed up with private companies and local government units to save the local banana industry from Panama disease.
Fusarium wilt or Panama disease is a destructive fungal disease found in the soil that attacks banana plant’s vascular system. It obstructs the uptake of water and soil nutrients resulting to wilting and death of the plants.
“Banana is a major dollar earner of the country and any threat such as fusarium wilt must be promptly addressed,” said Davao region agriculture director Oscar Parawan.
The official said “mapping and surveillance of severely affected areas is ongoing to properly identify and assess the extent of the damage.”
Prevention remains the best defense against Panama disease while an economical method to eliminate the banana fungus has yet to be discovered, Parawan said.
Stricter quarantine measures must be enforced, particularly the setting up of foot baths in local farms and interconnecting roads to prevent the spread of the disease across plantations.
Local ordinance must be issued for farmers to refrain from moving planting materials such as suckers and rhizomes out of infected areas. These ordinances will also stress proper disposal of infected plant such as burning the plants within the area with rice hull.
Farm hygiene must be observed as the pathogen can attach itself on footwear, farm equipment and machinery used in an infested soil. Plowing and hoeing could also cause the spread of the pathogen.
The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) urges farmers to educate themselves on the banana disease because usual signs of fusarium wilt such as the yellowing of the leaf margins could be suspected as nutrient deficiency.
Internal signs of a plant affected by Panama disease are more pronounced and can be seen by slicing off the lower portion of the corm horizontally. The vascular tissues in the roots and corm are discolored, making the vascular stands in the pseudostem turn yellow, red or brown.
The DA tapped local government units and private sectors particularly Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) and Mindanao Banana Growers and Exporters Association (MBGEA).
The High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) also organized a task force to implement quarantine measures and information drive about the Panama disease among farmers.
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