Peru continues to coordinate actions to protect the more than 17,000 hectares of bananas in Piura

In Piura, efforts continue to implement biosecurity measures in order to prevent the spread of Fusarium R4T in the fields of the department, where the plague was detected last April.

One of the latest actions taken was the delivery to the region's producers of basic biosafety kits, which include personal clothing, disinfectant, cleaning brush, buckets, and foot baths; essential tools to prevent the pest from entering their fields.

The disease is caused by a fungus that lives in the soil, where it can remain for more than 30 years, making it difficult to manage and control it. It is mainly dispersed by the movement of infected planting material through the soil that adheres to the footwear of people, tools, and vehicles entering the production areas, as well as through runoff or irrigation water. Thus, prevention measures are essential to contain it.

The delivery of the kits was supervised by the Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation of Peru, Federico Tenorio, and the national head of Senasa, Miguel Quevedo, who also held a technical meeting with banana and plantain producers in the area and local authorities.

These actions seek to protect the 17,000 hectares of bananas in Piura, a region that, according to the National Agrarian Health Service of Peru (Senasa), is the leading producer and exporter of organic bananas in the country, with 9,000 hectares.

The entity stated that more than 43,223 tons of bananas have been certified to different destinations, such as the United States, Germany, Belgium, Canada, South Korea, Finland, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Peru is the second country in the region to confirm the presence of the plague after Colombia in August 2019. Ecuador's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary (Agrocalidad) have ruled out the presence of Fusarium race 4 in the country's plantations and are developing a campaign to prevent it from entering the country.