A BANANA FARM in Bukidnon has been successfully brought back after having been infested with Panama disease by a local team of farm experts and plant pathologists, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said.

MinDA Chairman Emmanuel F. Piñol said the group led by Lalaine Albano-Narreto, Jose Barrosa, and soil experts from Unifrutti Tropical Philippines have succeeded in rehabilitating the Manupali Agri-Development Corp. (MADC) Cavendish banana farm in Valencia City, Bukidnon after six years.

“After a six-year field experiment (that) started in 2015, MADC was brought back to life with the banana farm area expanded from 280 to 371 hectares. While there are still negligible cases of the disease, the problem is effectively under control and easily prevented from spreading,” Mr. Piñol said in a Facebook post over the weekend.

Panama disease, also known as fusarium wilt, is a soil-inhabiting fungus that causes bananas, mostly Cavendish, to die.

Ms. Albano-Narreto said the fields had been abandoned, leaving the area barren for a period.

“We replanted after three months but the disease manifested again. So, we extended it to six months. Still the disease came back. Finally, we ‘scorched’ the land for one year and denied the fungus any host to survive,” Ms. Albano-Narreto said.

Ms. Albano-Narreto added that a new banana variety was introduced, UCL4, while an old variety, called Tall Williams, was replanted.

Currently, the rehabilitated farm employs 1,000 workers and produces 4,200 boxes of Class A bananas per hectare every year.

“The MADC success story is also a game changer for the country’s Cavendish banana industry which had suffered reversals because of the devastation of fusarium wilt. With this development, the Philippines could again regain its status as one of the top Cavendish banana producers in the world,” Mr. Piñol said.

Mr. Piñol said in a separate Facebook post that MinDA will launch a field learning program for Cavendish banana farmers who wish to learn the methods used by MADC in controlling the disease.  

He said the field learning program will be implemented after an offer by Unifrutti and its officers in the MADC farm in Bukidnon to share their practices with interested farmers.

During a July 20 virtual briefing, Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, Inc. Chairman Alberto F. Bacani said the Philippines remains the number two exporter of Cavendish banana.  

Mr. Bacani said the country produced 162.2 million boxes of Cavendish banana in 2020, down 17% from the prior year, due to Panama disease. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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