Banana Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4: How has Bioversity International contributed to saving the Philippines’ banana industry?

Gotor, E.; Bailey, A.; Scafetti, F.; Johnson, V.; Molina, A.B. (2021) Banana Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race 4: How has Bioversity International contributed to saving the Philippines’ banana industry? 6 p.

Bananas are of huge importance to the Philippines economy, particularly in the region of Mindanao, which is the main exporter of sweet Cavendish bananas – the kind sold in supermarkets worldwide. Filipino bananas comprise 90% of Asia’s banana exports (FAO2017_banana), and Cavendish cultivars worldwide represent 16% of the global export market, at a value of well over US$ 1 billion. Cavendish plantings cover more than 80,000 hectares in the Philippines. The national export industry directly employs about 320,000 people, 70% of whom work for large corporate growers, and 30% as small-scale farmers.

The export industry is, however, vulnerable to disease since it depends on just a single cultivar subgroup- Cavendish- grown in monocultures. In the early 2000s, the Philippines economy was threatened with huge losses by a deadly disease that began to spread through the Cavendish populations: Fusarium wilt of banana caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (Foc TR4). If uncontrolled, Foc TR4 could potentially wipe out the whole banana industry in these islands, with devastating effects on local communities.