The Ministry of Agriculture has teamed up with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation (IICA) on Agriculture and the National Fair Trade Organisation to develop a plan of action to manage the spread of the Black Sigatoka disease.
Although the disease has not been detected in Dominica, many islands in the region have reported sightings of the disease including Martinique, St Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada and St Vincent.
“We have to prepare and put systems in place to prevent it and when it comes to manage it. That is part of the whole management strategy to bring in varieties that will be accepted by farmers and housewives and the general public. This will allow us to get some resistance to the disease,” Plant Protection Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ryan Anselm, explained to GIS news on Monday of the new methods being developed by the Division.
“What we have done is that we have collaborated with CIRAD, a French research institution in Guadeloupe and Martinique and through a project funded by the Government of France called the INTERREC Project. We have collaborated with CIRAD in Guadeloupe and Martinique to try four (4) types of resistant varieties. These varieties are 9-18, 9-16, 9-20 and 9-24. They are resistant to Sigatoka, both Yellow and Black Sigatoka. These varieties will be planted in different agro ecological zones all over Dominica but we are targeting the agricultural stations at Grand Bay, La Plaine and Woodfordhill in the meantime,” he said.
The plants are expected to be tolerant and resistant to the Black Sigatoka and validation is expected to be carried out in farms across the country.
“We are hoping that the farmers and the housewives and the general public will accept the variety. It is a hybrid variety. It has not been grown in Dominica before and the Ministry has been bringing in this variety as part of trials in terms of its whole management strategy for the Black Sigatoka. We are, therefore, asking the farmers and the general public to help the Ministry validate this variety,” Anselm stated.
He stressed the fact that these are new varieties and will have to be tested before being marketed on a regional level.
“One of the things that we are going to do is we are going to try it in the major supermarkets in Dominica and we are going to target the commercial entities along with the regional markets in Trinidad and in Antigua. As a result, we will be looking for feedback from those countries so it is not commercial. It cannot reach the UK market but it is something that we are looking at that it be accepted by everybody. By then we can get some good feedback, good ratings on it that we can get to multiply it and reproduce it that farmers can use it. However, they are not commercial varieties to be exported to the UK market,” he pointed out.
The Black Sigatoka disease (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) is a deadly leaf spot disease affecting banana plants including plantains. It is caused by the ascomycete fungus. Plantains are resistant to the Yellow Sigatoka. The fungus can be spread by wind and rain, moving of contaminated plants and parts of plants, packaging materials (especially banana leaves) and tools.
The damage to the leaves makes them non-functional, extends time between bunching and harvesting, decreases in yield and fruit quality, renders fruit unmarketable, decline in production and export potential (can decrease yield by up to fifty percent (50%)) and premature ripening in the field and after harvest.
The disease can be controlled by the removal of diseased leaves, good plant nutrition through proper and timely fertilizer application, decreasing humidity within fields by good drainage, weed control and correct plant density and maintaining a strict schedule of fungicide application and effective fungicide rotation.
Dominica, which still depends on bananas to a very large extent as one of its main foreign exchange earners cannot afford at this time to contract the disease.
Agricultural officials are hoping that it does not reach the shores of Dominica. Ministry Officials are asking the general public that if they suspect the Black Sigatoka disease to contact the Plant Protection Department of the Division of Agriculture at the Botanic Gardens or the nearest agricultural station.
consider the fact tobago is considering production of bananas. kill it and u have 65000 dead people
Am in total agreement with Mr, Fox
maybe you’ll should let people know how to identify the black sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) and how to diferinciate it from the yellow sigatoka (mycosphaerrella musicola) that way we can have a more positive identification of it if it shows up.
BLACK SIGATOKA HAVE A BLACK T SHIRT AND YELLOW SIGATOKA HAVE A YELLOW T SHIRT.
I AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO BE OF HELP
Regarding the statement on DNO “Dominica, which still depends on bananas to a very large extent as one of its main foreign exchange earners cannot afford at this time to contract the disease”. What percentage of Dominica’s foreign exchange earnings is from bananas? It seems that we refuse to let go a dying industry, why?
Because even though it may not be a high export earner there are other roles that it plays in the local economy. I vouch for a possible future in Dominica without fresh bananas as a major export, but I do not support simply closing down the industry: 1. there are still people making good money from it because they have been more innovative and business savvy 2. we have a tourism industry that uses a lot of banana in the fresh and slightly processed state which is a lot better than importing.
Mr Fox i agree with you!
If banana is a dying industry, i would then lie to ask you if are prepared to purchase banana from overseas.The protection of the banana industry , thoug matter how insignificant it may seem, plays a very important role in the area of food security. Food security for US in Dominica. Right now while you are talking about a dying industry,the government of Guyana is giving incentives to farmers to produce non traditional crops. Crops such as banana, plantain, pumpkin. These are crops that are traditional to us crops that we are willing to kill because we value trade more than food security.We have to ensure that we grow as much of what we consume that should be our first priority. A country without food security is a dead country. So to you sneezy apparently your name suits you, that is why the effort must be made to protect NOT A DYING BANANA INDUSTRY BUT THE BANANA WHICH PROVIDES FOOD>