Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

432 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 2
epidemiology of the disease. In the Philippines, the popular local varieties, Lakatan and
Latundan are seriously affected. The lack of clean planting materials is contributing to
the steady spread of this disease. Corporate plantations implement strict disease
scouting and eradication programs, hence the disease is not a major cause of production
losses.
Banana bunchy top (BBTV) and other virus diseases
In 1991, only the Philippines ranked BBTV as the most destructive disease. Recently,
countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Australia consider BBTV
as one of the major concerns. As most of the local cultivars are susceptible to BBTV, the
build up of this disease has led to epidemic proportions in several countries in Asia and
the Pacific (i.e. Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). Even countries like Malaysia,
which earlier was free of BBTV has recently reported infection of this disease on Pisang
Mas, Cavendish, and Pisang Berangan.
Subsistent banana farmers in developing countries are most affected by BBTV, since
they do not have the facility to disease free planting materials and lack the willingness
and capacity to implement a sustained eradication and rehabilitation programme. In the
Philippines for instance the very popular local cultivar Lakatan is widely affected by
BBTV. Thus, farmers are now replacing it with other less susceptible varieties (i.e. Saba).
In countries like Australia and Taiwan, BBTV is effectively managed because of the use
of virus-indexed planting materials and the political will to implement a rational
quarantine, eradication, and rehabilitation program. Similarly, corporate large-scale
plantations have less problem of BBTV as they implement strict disease monitoring and
eradication practices.
Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV), banana streak virus (BSV) and cucumber
mosaic virus (CMV) are also becoming important banana disease problems in the region.
These are not however as destructive as BBTV.
Sigatoka diseases
Yellow Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella musicola) is a major disease in Australia, while black
Sigatoka (M. fijiensis) is more important in most ASPNET countries, particularly South
Pacific and the Philippines. The Cavendish varieties that are commonly planted in
Australia and large commercial plantations are particularly susceptible to Sigatoka leaf
spot. Sigatoka control constitute the largest expense among the pest and disease
management practices employed by plantation managers. In spite of high expenditure, it
is considered a highly manageable disease, employing intensively managed chemical
control-based disease management strategy. Chemical control is indispensable, as the
disease causes significant fruit quality damage and yield if left uncontrolled. The
dependence to fungicides, however, is a major source of concern with regard to environmental,
health, and workers’ safety concerns. Furthermore, some fungicides are
losing their effectiveness (fungicide resistance) due to continued usage.
Subsistent growers, on the other hand, cannot afford to implement an economically
feasible chemical control strategy. Therefore, yield is significantly reduced. Practically,
they do not implement any disease control tactic, except for occasional deleafing of