Fusarium TR4 Threatening Banana Industry in Latin America

A fungus that has wreaked havoc on banana plantations in the Eastern Hemisphere has, despite years of preventative efforts, arrived in the Americas.

In August 2019, ICA, the Colombian agriculture and livestock authority, confirmed that laboratory tests have positively identified the presence of so-called Panama disease Tropical Race 4 on banana farms in the Caribbean coastal region. Colombia became the first country in Latin America which been affected by this destructive banana disease. A declaration of a national state of emergency was announced soon.

In April 2021, the Peruvian National Agrarian Health Service, Senasa, has confirmed the discovery of Fusarium wilt Tropical race IV (TR4) in a plot of land in Piura, a northwestern region of Peru.

During these two years, Fusarium TR4 fungus puts Latin American countries which produce bananas on high alert. Ecuador, as the world’s number one banana exporter, installed an Internet-connected microscope at its main regional border facility where most of the trade with Peru comes in; this should quickly identify threats. Ecuador is offering free lab testing and training of proper sanitary procedures to plantations to stop the spread. 

In May 2021, Venezuela's National Institute of Integral Agricultural Health (Insai) has ruled out the presence of TR4 in Venezuelan banana plantations. In addition, Insai published a guide so that Venezuelan producers were aware of this disease's symptoms so they could detect the fungus in their plantations.

Latin America depends on bananas not only as a food source but also as a primary economic resource. The region contains four of the top five producers of bananas for the export market, and all of the top 10 banana exporters to the United States. Ecuador, which shares a border with Colombia, is the world’s largest exporter. The proliferation of TR4 in South and Central America could cause widespread economic distress.

The discovery of the fungus represents a potential impending disaster for bananas as both a food source and an export commodity. Fusarium TR4 is an infection of the banana plant by a fungus of the genus Fusarium. Although bananas produced in infected soil are not unsafe for humans, infected plants eventually stop bearing fruit.

“Once you see it, it is too late, and it has likely already spread outside that zone without recognition,” says Gert Kema, Professor of Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands whose lab analyzed soil samples to confirm TR4 in Colombia, as well as in earlier outbreaks.

No known fungicide or biocontrol measure has proven effective against TR4. “As far as I know, ICA and the farms are doing a good job in terms of containment, but eradication is almost impossible,” says Fernando García-Bastidas, a Colombian phytopathologist who coordinated testing.

An agricultural biotech company, MustGrow Biologics Corp., announced the commencement of testing of MustGrow’s proprietary TerraMG bio-pesticide formulation on the Panama Disease (Fusarium wilt TR4). The company said that this product has been proven to control soil-borne diseases similar to Panama Disease.

MustGrow’s previous independent efficacy studies in Canada have proven that TerraMG’s treatment of Fusarium oxysporum, a soil-borne pathogen, had 100% control of the fungus. Currently, there are no effective treatments for the infected banana plantations, with the disease remaining viable for decades in the soil and can cause 100% yield loss.

In May this year, the Inter-American Institute of Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA) stated that the Ministers and high Agriculture authorities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru had endorsed the efforts carried out by the Global Alliance against Fusarium TR4 to coordinate regional actions to combat and prevent this pest.

“Fusarium TR4 is the greatest threat to the banana industry, a highly commercially valuable crop and a vital food source for more than 400 million people in the world. The strength of the alliance is that it combines the efforts of the academia, the private sector, and research organizations to fight this disease,” stated the Director-General of IICA, Manuel Otero.

According to experts, the joint work between the Andean countries and the Global Alliance against Fusarium TR4 will benefit other regions of Latin America and the Caribbean eventually helping them to prevent and control the appearance of this fungus in their plantations.

If your institute has new research findings on Fusarium TR4 or your company has effective product which can combat banana panama disease, you can contact AgroPages (christina@agropages.com), we would like to report it and share your achievement with our readers.

This article was initially published in AgroPages' '2021 Latin America Focus' magazine.