Research Articles New E-course to Protect Bananas from Fusarium Wilt Disease
Fusarium wilt is one of the most destructive diseases affecting banana production. The disease is found worldwide, in almost all areas where bananas are grown, and is increasingly compromising the livelihoods and food security of smallholder farmers, as well as interrupting the global banana market.
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, in collaboration with BlueGreen Labs, has launched a new e-course on Fusarium wilt of banana on the banana plant health learning platform www.crophealth.org. Here, courses are developed within the CGIAR ‘Plant Health' initiative, providing accessible and practical knowledge for effective banana disease management.
The e-course on Fusarium wilt of banana addresses the practical implementation of Fusarium disease management across various banana production systems, ranging from large-scale plantations to smallholder subsistence farms. Course topics include:
- Module 1: What is Fusarium wilt?
Background information on disease epidemiology to help understand how and why disease management practices work - Module 2: Risk management
Risk management including prevention, eradication and containment, both with and without support from the NPPO (national plant protection organization) - Module 3: Control using resistant cultivars
The adoption of disease-resistant varieties, including a case study on Formosana (Giant Cavendish somaclone) in the Philippines - Module 4: Farm management
Practical farm management towards soil health and pathogen suppression
This platform has been designed for proactive banana farmers, extension officers, young researchers and various partner organizations. As such, the training content is easily accessible within a short time frame, by
- presenting current scientific research in layman’s terms,
- combining reading material with training videos and short quizzes,
- offering content that can be reviewed within approximately 3-4 hours (or trainees with limited time, a fast-track version is available taking 45 minutes).
The course is available in multiple languages, and full training manuals are available for download within the course, and via CGIAR's CGSpace in English, Spanish or French.
Discover our course on Fusarium wilt of banana today on www.crophealth.org!
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