Plagues,
Pestilences and Diseases
Rapidly spreading Fungus to wipe out Philippine bananas:
growers
by Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) Oct 10, 2011
A disease that has ravaged banana plantations across Southeast
Asia could wipe out the Philippine industry in three years unless
the government finds a cure, a growers' group warned Monday.
The disease, called Fusarium wilt, is caused by a fast-spreading
fungus that kills the plant, said Stephen Antig, executive
director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association.
"So far, it has already infected 1,200 hectares (2,950 acres) of
banana plantations locally, although that figure can go higher,"
Antig told AFP.
"If we can not contain this and it remains unchecked, then in less
than three years our banana industry will die."
The Philippines is the second biggest exporter of bananas in the
world behind Ecuador with about 70,000 hectares of plantations,
according to the association.
The banana sector is also the country's fifth largest export
industry, directly employing 280,000 people, it said.
"Losing this industry will have a huge impact on our economy,"
Antig said.
The Philippines exports the Cavendish variety of banana, which is
the most popular type around the world, according to Antig.
He said the disease wiped out the then-popular Gros Michel bananas
in Central America and the Caribbean in the 1960s.
The disease also destroyed Cavendish plantations in Indonesia and
Malaysia in the 1990s.
Traces of the fungus were found in controllable levels in the
Philippines five years ago, Antig said.
But a more virulent type of the fungus emerged last month and
quickly began spreading through plantations in the southern region
of Mindanao, where most of the country's banana exports come from,
he said.
Antig urged the government to fast-track the creation of a
research institute to enable local growers to develop a fruit
variety that is resistant to the disease.