Banana sector asks to accelerate the importation of another variety that tolerates Fusarium race 4

The recent confirmation by the Venezuelan authorities of the presence of the Fusarium race 4 (Foc R4T) in six municipalities of its territory accelerated requests from the Ecuadorian banana sector to the authorities to be prepared and prevent the plague, which is also in Colombia (2019) and Peru (2021), from entering the country.

Specifically, the banana sector awaits the approval of the Seed Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) for the importation of a new variety tolerant to Foc R4T, to add to the tests that are currently being carried out on the Formosan variety GCTCV- 218 that was imported in 2022.

4,620 Formosana GCTCV-218 banana plants are already in the country, tolerant to Fusarium race 4

According to José Antonio Hidalgo, executive president of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), this new variety is called Gal Rahan Meristem.

“We must have more tolerant or resistant varieties here in Ecuador being tested within the country, today we only have one variety that is the formosana, which is complying with all the schemes that it has to comply with regarding the Iniap and Agrocalidad protocols, but there is another variety that we are still waiting for the MAG Seed Committee to approve, which is the Gal Rahan Meristem variety,” said Hidalgo, who revealed that testing each variety takes approximately two to three years.

Meanwhile, the executive president of AEBE assured that the banana production sector will continue to invest in biosecurity to prevent the plague from reaching the country. He assured that since the first alert (in 2019) the sector has invested between $2,000 and $5,000 per hectare, while acknowledging that they have had cooperation from different public institutions.

Venezuela confirms the presence of Fusarium race 4 in plantations in three states

“Let him come Fusarium Ecuador would be something catastrophic, we have to continue with these preventive efforts, public and private, and we also have to work around the resistant and tolerant variety, today we have one, we have to have more,” Hidalgo insisted.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the Foc R4T also activated the alarms of the Central American countries. The Regional International Organization for Agricultural Health (Oirsa), which is made up of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic, issued a phytosanitary alert for the prevention of the pest.

The agency, with which Ecuador maintains a technical cooperation that began as a result of the first alert of the Fusarium race 4 in the region, when it was detected in Colombia in 2019, called on its member countries to be prepared for the imminent epidemic development of the plague, which was also detected in Peru, in 2021.

The alert issued by Oirsa warns that its Regional Directorate of Plant Health (DRSV) indicates that the current problem of death of musaceae plants in the region corresponds to diseases caused by bacteria of the species Ralstonia solanacearum race 2 (banana and banana mucus) and of the genera Erwinia spp., Dickeia spp. and Pectobacterium spp., agents can cover up or mask infections by quaternary agents, such as Foc R4T.

“When these mixed infections are found, phytosanitary surveillance in the detection and identification of symptoms in the field is difficult,” warned Oirsa in his alert, while stating that this situation happened in Colombia and Peru.

Given this, the agency made several recommendations to strengthen the capacities of phytosanitary diagnosis of diseases caused by soil pathogens, considering that the Foc R4T can be associated with mixed infections with pathogens of a different nature such as those named above.

Regarding the international alert, Hidalgo warned that the plague constitutes a global threat.

“It does not give advantages or disadvantages to anyone, it is even a common effort that must be made and be able to protect the borders of each of the countries. If Peru does not make an effort to protect its border, obviously we are going to run a greater risk; if Colombia does not do the same, we will take greater risks; if Venezuela does not do the same, Central America is in danger and so are we; and Ecuador has to do its job regarding border management,” said the head of Aebe, who pointed out that regional coordination must continue for the management of biosafety protocols. (YO)