DA raises alarm over ‘Panama’

By Cheneen R. Capon
The Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 11 has raised the alarm over the dreaded Panama disease which has affected some 15,500 hectares of banana plantation in the Davao Region based on its current records covering the first two months of the year.
DA 11 focal person Virgelio Gutierrez bared during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao Annex yesterday that the affected areas of the destructive Panama disease or Fusarium wilt are the provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental, and Davao City.
Most of the banana plantations affected is managed by small banana growers with an average area of less than 10 hectares. Farms planted with the granine variety of cavendish banana along with those planted with the local saba and lakatan varieties are the ones greatly affected by the disease.
Davao Del Norte has been identified as the most affected area, followed by Compostela Valley, Davao City, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
“Around 22,000 mats are already infected by the disease,” Gutierrez said.
Considered as soil borne, Gutierrez said the Fusarium wilt can easily spread during rainy season because it can flush down to rivers and streams during flooding. He added that a single gram of infected soil can contain 1,500 fungi that can cause the spread of disease.
“We feared the disease will spread faster after the long drought season,” Gutierrez said.
Based on the ground assessment conducted by the DA XI pathologists, there are more than 700 banana farmers who are facing the threat of the disease.
These farmers are identified as the primary beneficiaries of the agency’s intervention program to save the region’s billion-dollar industry. To help the farmers, the DA will implement a two-year program which aims to manage and eventually eradicate the spread of the disease.
A total of P102 million is allocated by the department for various programs such as the distribution of disease-resistant giant cavendish-culture variety (GCTCV) 219 and trichoderma harzianum, a biological agent that can control the disease.
Gutierrez said the agency is now distributing vegetable seeds and cacao, coffee, and coconut seedlings to encourage farmers to shift crops. They are also providing trainings on good agriculture practices (GAP).
Gutierrez stressed that farm lands that are more than 5 percent infected are advised to plant GCTCV 219 or engage in crop shifting. The agency is giving farmers a P500 subsidy for burning down infected trees.
As of yesterday, 25 farmers have already availed of the eradication program; 15 are undergoing crop shifting; while the rest are planting the new developed disease-resistant variety.