Urgent research needed to sustain banana crops in Asia and the Pacific.

Fusarium wilt, a fungal disease, has already devastated banana crops worldwide, forcing the industry to abandon previously favoured varieties. Now experts are warning that a new strain of Fusarium could be threatening to repeat history. The new strain, known as tropical race 4, attacks varieties resistant to other strains.

Banana research leaders from the 14 member countries of BAPNET stressed the need for urgent collaboration to understand the diversity of the disease and to map its distribution across Asia and the Pacific at their recent meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. They also called for more research into the impact of climate change on small-scale banana growers.

Speaking at the meeting, Stephan Weise, a research director at Bioversity, reiterated Bioversity’s commitment to “work with national partners to address these important research issues for banana production, especially those that are affecting small-scale farmers”.

BAPNET members also agreed to further collaborate on research to mitigate the impacts of climate change, by studying banana production systems and how varieties might adapt, and to improve climate change prediction models with better information specifically about bananas.

For more information:   Agustin Molina