A campaign has been launched to stop the bunchy top disease already present in the South and West Regions.
A notorious virus that has been attacking banana and plantain worldwide and which proves highly resistant to treatment has infiltrated plantations in the South Region and in several locations in the West Region, the research station of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Cameroon has indicated.
The Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) disease is spread through suckers by an insect, banana aphid, exclusive to banana. “There are no known disease-resistant varieties”, Drs Rachid Hanna and Lava Kumar (IITA-Virologists) explained during the launching of a campaign against its spread in Abang Minko’o, Ntem Valley Division.
Organised by IITA in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Institute for Agronomic Research and Development ( IRAD) and Central African Research for Banana and Plantain (CARBAP), and supported by a USAID-linkage grant, the launching ceremony code name, “field day” took participants to farms infected by BBTV. They equally visited an IITA experimental site where they assessed the rate of the disease spread by aphids and the performance of local and high yielding banana and plantain varieties. In order to mark the launch of “Stop Bunchy Top” (SBT) campaign, participants off-rooted BBT-infected suckers.
According to a press statement issued at the end of the launching, results of IITA survey show that BBTV is well established in southern region of Cameroon and has spread to several locations in the West Region. The disease is suspected to have spread from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which are already hit by the epidemic, the statement said, stating the urgency for government to prevent further spread of the disease and protect plantain production as well as “improve export potential of the fruit.”
In light of the recent surge in BBTV incidence in Africa, IITA is underscoring the necessity to urgently develop sustainable disease control strategies that include control of aphid, “development of resistant/tolerant germplasm and promotion of appropriate phytosanitary measures to limit disease incidence and spread”.
