International cooperation will combat Fusarium R4T banana pest

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), fruit companies, producer associations, universities and other actors in the agricultural sector, led by Bayer Crop Science, will implement a global strategy of tangible actions to address the banana blight Fusarium R4T, which affects production and trade of the world's fourth largest crop.

The areas of this strategy will be prevention and training, reproduction and genetics and control mechanisms, as defined at a meeting in Germany, in which IICA participated.

The prevention and training component will focus on strengthening the relationship between industry, non-governmental organizations, buyers and extension agents. A teaching model will also be developed that will implement pilot programs in regions where banana disease occurs.

In the second area, reproduction processes and programs will be evaluated to improve their efficiency. Researchers will also be supplied with germplasm to carry out experiments and disseminate their conclusions among interested parties.

The third area of ​​work encompasses testing Bayer products with a view to proving their effectiveness, research into the relationships between nutrition, soil and the effectiveness of control agents and the development of rapid application tools to assess the presence of fungus in banana plantations.

“IICA will be responsible for coordinating a global program with actions adapted for each country, region and continent; and will be supported by donors who guarantee the resources to effectively combat this pest”, said Gabriel Rodríguez, Project Manager at the international organization.

O Fusarium R4T presents recent cases in several parts of the world (in Latin America, it was detected in Colombia). It causes symptoms of wilting and the death of plants, in addition to remaining in the soil for a long time, which makes it difficult to control.

Data on Fusarium R4T

• It spreads, above all, through the movement of planting material in soil particles that adhere to people's shoes, tools and vehicles, and through rainwater or irrigation water that carries the fungus from one location to another.

• Once introduced into the plants' vascular system, the fungus triggers a collapse in their water and nutrient transport mechanism, which affects their photosynthesis and causes their death. To date, there is no chemical, biological or genetic control to combat pathogenic action.

• There is no viable fully effective soil or plant treatment to control or cure the expansion of Fusarium in the soil, where the spur fungus remains active for decades. The only preventive measure currently available is quarantine, which prevents the transfer of land or plant material from infected areas to disease-free areas. Fusarium R4T.