Head of Plant Protection and Quarantine Services in Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ryan Anselm says cabinet has approved funding for a project to begin frequent spraying as efforts continue to combat the spread of the deadly Black Sigatoka disease.
Black Sigatoka is a leaf spot disease of banana plants caused by ascomycete fungus and its presence was confirmed in Dominica in June 2012.
“Banana and plantain farmers in Dominica can anticipate more frequent spraying,” he said. “Our target is to spray every 28 days together with the cultural practices that we have recommended to farmers.”
He said that spraying will be done regularly from January to June and is encouraging farmers to go back to their fields.
“We are preparing the farmers, we have started in the south and we are encouraging the farmers to do the necessary clean up, the leafing, the weed control in preparation for the chemical spray,” Anselm stated.
He also noted that the Ministry of Agriculture is collaborating with the National Fair Trade Organization “to increase the productivity and production in the field to resolve the quality issues that had the Winfresh organization suspending core farmers.”
Anselm is confident that an improvement in the management of the disease will be seen.
“One can see an improvement in the management of the Black Sigatoka and we are also working with the BAM (Banana Accompanying Measures) to get some resources and the necessary chemicals to manage Black Sigatoka.”
Recently, Winfresh announced it was suspending the purchase of bananas from Dominican core farmers because of poor quality caused by Black Sigatoka.
Since June 2012 that fungus has been causing disaster in the bananas…. Are they sure that they are not too late?
Or, so they can do what they should have done all along and turn around and say that fig was dead and they revived it….looking for credit any pathetic, visionless way they can get it.
How much funding was provide? That is the magical question, we can do the mathematics once we understand the dollar amount.
If the funding was adequate or meaningful the GOVT would have said how much was given. This would give the farmers the confident and assurance that the GOVT is committed to solving this problem.
d man they put in charge had a shop he sink it wat u tink mr can do
How could the government claim to want to grow the agriculture industry when they only act when there is a gun to their heads?
What strategy do they have to grow the industry? I strikes me that the words they used during the election champagne were merely empty words. These guys done mean a word of what they say. Yet the gullible Dominican electorate bought it hook, line and sinker.
Feed them with some cheap Chinese junk and that is all they need to sell their votes. Trying to help them get look to the future where they can work hard to look after themselves, and you will not capture their attention.
My people are just too much.
It is with sadness that I take note that in a situation where the already sluggish industry is about to be annihilated and the leaders of our country have not made a statement.
After witnessing the way in which the US and European governments went in to rescue vital industries, do we really think that approving an undisclosed sum of money for chemicals is really going to rescue the Banana industry? Is the government response enough to drive farmers back into production – back to the point where bananas become golden? Are we serious . The way it is ( REALITY THAT IS) in other to resuscitate the comatose banana industry 2-3 hundred million dollars must be injected into the banana industry. We must hear from the leaders a comprehensive recovery plan – not a mere statement from a ” nobody”
Now who can resist not mentioning that we are talking about a group of administrators who sprung into action to mobilize and bribe 3-4 thousand illegal voters to come into Dominica to vote…
Many of us including those we have entrusted to manage the “AFFAIRS” of our country have seen how governments respond in situations where an entire economy is threatened by a crisis situation. We have seen how the united states government and governments in Europe quickly moved in to underpin the auto industry; we have seen how the very same governments rescued banks simply to protect the mechanism of the economy. Right wrong or indifferent the fact remains that catastrophic collapse was averted.
Here it is in Dominica our government did not move to support the banana industry. But this is not at all surprising when the very same group of people deliberately destroyed the banana industry just to create poverty and mendicancy. I need not talk about the relevance and success that the banana industry has brought to Dominicans. The truth is since the demise of agriculture and Banana the country economic performance has severely contracted.
It is with sadness that I take note that in a…
I have read about the Government’s rather belated reaction to the Black Sigatoka epidemic..and some of the comments above. A light petroleum banana spray oil has been shown through extensive research to stop the growth of the Sigatoka fungus..It does not kill the fungus..It acts as a fungistat.. There is no research data to show that vinegar has any action on ANY FUNGUS..The tried and tested measures are available though expensive fungicides in banana spray oil or oil emulsion . FIELD SANITATION (deleafing..removal of lower heavily infected leaves, weed control to lower field humidity (the fungal spore requires leaf wetness/dew to germinate and penetrate the leaf )..It is not very useful to use a fixed spray cycle (e.g 28 days) since the virulence of Black Sigatoka is dependent on environmental conditions so some situations will requuire more frequent spraying and others less..There are simple leaf observation/forecast systems that can be utilised to determine the best time to spray.
Is there a research data on plain cooking oil to eradicate the fungus? People have to try what they think might be effective. As long as it is not Javex and who knows even that might work in a small quantity. As in everything they have to experiment.
Finally after it reached to disaster,only in this waste of country and dominica.Lets hope it does happen.
I almost want to say too little too late… But for themfarmers sake i say i hope its not just another nicely put media story. its been three years.. All farmers have given up nd now u want to encourage them to go back to their farms…. Government without vision…country with no future…..god give those farmers strenght..
Where there is life there is always hope. Some of you give up and too quickly. You love to be always negative and criticize. It is like placing a curse on everything. Try being positive. It works if you have the confidence.
If the spores of Black Sigatoka are dispersed by the wind (blown all over the place), by the wind; it seems to me for spraying to eliminate the spores spread by the wind the chemical would have to be sprayed continuously around the clock. I think it would make sense to inquire from sources in Queensland Australia, to find out what method they used to eliminate the problem before they start dispersing chemicals in the air to be inhaled; thus causing cancer in the population.
Funds have always been available from BAM.As always I suspect misappropriated of the funding
this is the most incompetent government in the WORRRRRRLLLD!!
and the people keep rewarding them by voting them back in.
If you are not in a situation you will find fault. I wonder, if you were the government would you do better?
So what about the affect on nature, birds, bees, butterflies, organic foods being grown, how are they going to be protected from such a spraying program? Birds, bees and bats etc. pollinate food crops and fruit trees, so if they are destroyed by chemical spraying what is going to pollinate our food crops? A lot of problems on this earth are caused by chemicals, and now you want to use more chemicals? What is the affect on the water supplies, rivers, fish, cray fish? What type of chemical is going to be used on the environment?
This should elate the farmers. I know nothing about how to treat this Sigatoka but the thought crossed my mind, the farmers could also try spraying with vinegar.
The farmer who said she used oil which is expensive to combat this disease could also try white vinegar. It serves a useful cleansing purpose and is a natural resource.
There are health benefits of vinegar. Today most people have access to the Internet. Google it.
If oil works to a certain extent, how about vinegar which may be less expensive? This is just a thought. However, try it, even on one banana leaf to see the effect. Do not douse the leaf; just a little spray should do. Who knows? It may work to eradicate this banana disease.
Good luck farmers. I can understand your concern and anxiety of what you are going through with loss of funds and business also for the economy.
May God bless you and your efforts to restore your banana industry to what it once was.
OK but suppose it works! vinegar is an acid, ascetic acid. Imagine spraying a whole banana field with an acid. you will end up having to use a million pounds of fertilizer to get the desired output.
The lady said she uses oil. I would expect she would have to use a lot of it which is expensive. It was just a thought which crossed my mind.
Vinegar is good for cleaning as well; also lemon and drinking in small proportions. They have no side effects. Google the information.
If they want to eradicate this Black Sigatoka they must try everything possible (without chemicals) which might not harm the banana leaves and tree. You never know what might work.
You know, it is like medication. A doctor prescribes medication which might not work and then prescribes something else in the hope it might work.
The cost of spraying may be the reason why the leaves were not sprayed frequently.
Who has the answer and solution to combating this dilemma of Black Sigatoka?
It probably could be diluted with water. Nothing beats a failure but a trial. I did state, to begin with, first try a leaf; not the entire leaves and tree.
How effective are chemicals to eradicate this problem?
Something sounds very strange to my ears here: With this type of hopeful wish-wash thinking, why didn’t the minister for agriculture make this announcement? Why use a no name person to do it? Another thing is, if they knew how to fight Black Sigatoka all along, why did they wait until it has destroyed our farms and reputation to approve funds and begin to spray? But you know, this deceptive government knows so well how to fool Dominicans; no wonder neither Skerrit, nor Driygo had could ask farmers to go back to their fields, so they had to use Ryan Anselm. If funds are really available to fight Black Sigatoka and they really want farmers to go back to their abandoned fields, then the government should first do the following:
1. Like any disaster, they should compensate all farmers affected 2. They should use funds and resources from the NEP program and divert it into agriculture to ensure that farms are sprayed and cleaned. 3. They need to treat the soil first. It’s too late for…
So now that that British outfit slapped a ban on Dominica’s bananas, they have now approved fund to deal with that disease?
Are these jokers for real? So it had to take some serious action by the Brits to trigger action by the government? So they would have buried their heads in the sand, pretend things are alright and done nothing otherwise?
Un-freaking-believable!!
Great news for the farmers!