The procedure for importing banana varieties GAL Rahan Meristemfrom Israel, variety tolerant to Fusarium Race 4 (Foc R4T) It would already be close to completion, according to the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), which requested approval of the process for two years. This comes after Formosana 218 plants, another pest-tolerant variety, arrived in 2022., and which is currently being tested in the country in the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Ríos.

AEBE Executive Director José Antonio Hidalgo revealed this information after a press conference he held this Monday, December 4, where the project was presented. Safe Banana: Foc R4T Risk Prevention and Mitigation in Ecuadorwhich has the financial support of the German cooperation GIZ.

The banana sector requests that the import of another variety that tolerates Fusarium race 4 be accelerated

Hidalgo pointed out that last Friday the National Institute for Agricultural Research (Iniap) sent a cooperation agreement to Rahan Meristen. “This cooperation agreement is the final part that already defines the import process that Rahan Meristen can carry out for its GAL variety and it will be the second variety that will start testing in the coming months,” he said.

The leader indicated that the first tests will be conducted when the variety is available in the country. “We’ve been behind that approval for two years now,” he said, adding that it shouldn’t take long.

Regarding the Safe Banana project, which will be carried out by the Statistical Observatory for Bananas (OEB) of the AEBE, Hidalgo pointed out that satellite technology has been implemented, which consists of the generation of satellite photos to be able to distinguish areas at risk.

“This satellite technology, complemented by projects already underway using identification drones on a national scale. The intention is to unite various efforts to map the points of greatest risk within our observatory. In this way, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and the supervisory bodies, we will reactivate the Inter-Institutional Commission also with the Prefectures, Agrocalidada and the Academy (CIBE), to jointly issue all warnings,” he said.

This is Formosana 218, a banana resistant to Fusarium race 4 that has been tested in two provinces of Ecuador

Foc R4T, according to the union, It is one of the main threats that banana production in the country currently has, after the announcement of the presence in 2019 in Colombia, in Peru in 2021 and in Venezuela in early 2023, which is why the sector is in constant alertness and constant investment to avoid their presence.

For his part, GIZ representative Ralph Buss emphasized this Safe Banana will focus on actions that will enable the country to remain ready for the possible arrival of FOC TR4. “We want to have a better organization to create synergies that will allow us to fight this threat, because there are no borders for those affected. It’s not an easy job, but it’s a responsibility we share with all actors in the chain,” said Buss, who is also the coordinator of the “We are ALERT4” project.

Paúl Vera (i), director of OEB; José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of AEBE and Ralph Buss, representative of GIZ. Photo: Carmen Carchi

The implementation of this initiative will begin in the province of El Oro, according to Hidalgo, and they want to expand it to the other banana growing areas of Los Ríos and Guayas, where they have already established contacts with the prefectures “to be able to join forces.”

Meanwhile, the director of the OEB, Paúl Vera, explained that the project consists of four phases, with results expected in the next four to five months:

The implementation of the project, according to Vera, will establish the following performance indicators: Index of the implementation of biological security measures; percentage of banana producers implementing recommended biosecurity measures; understanding the risk of Fusarium TR4; and biosecurity adoption rate: The percentage increase in the adoption of biosecurity practices over a twelve-month period compared to the initial baseline.

Other indicators will be: