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

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.