Capacity Development on Diagnostic and Surveillance  System of Banana Fusarium Wilt Disease - TCP/RAS/3619

Capacity Development on Diagnostic and Surveillance System of Banana Fusarium Wilt Disease - TCP/RAS/3619

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

Banana is the fruit accounting for the largest quantityof international and domestic trade, supporting around8 million farmers in Asia for their daily income. The bananaindustry, however, is beset with the damage caused byFusarium wilt, a disease that spreads through movementof planting materials or soil attached to non-hosts. Thedisease caused the complete collapse in internationaltrade of the Gros Michel banana variety in the early 1900s,although the situation stabilized following the introductionof the Cavendish cultivar in the 1920s. In the 1980’s,however, the Cavendish cultivars also succumbedto Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4(hereafter referred to as “Foc TR4”).At regional level, Foc TR4 was detected in Taiwan in the1980s and spread to Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1990s.The disease has now reached China and the Philippines,while the National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs)of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam have reported theobservation of infested banana areas. Amid fears thatthe disease might spread, affecting banana production bysmall farmers for national and export markets, a requestwas made to FAO for technical support to control thedisease.The project focused on the importance of detectionsurveys to determine the status and extent of Foc TR4disease infestation in recipient countries, in an attemptto mitigate and prevent its spread to new areas. Its aimwas to build the capacity of the six recipient countries todevelop and advocate the viable options for mitigatingthe incursion and preventing the spread of bananaFoc TR4 disease.As a result of project activities, regional and nationalcontrol strategies for Foc TR4 were developed during ameeting of