New Banana Disease Found in Mozambique

A joint statement issued by Mozambique Department of Agriculture, agricultural company Matanuska, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and Bioversity International revealed that a destructive strain of a banana wilt disease has been discovered on Cavendish bananas in Mozambique. The disease, widely known as Foc TR4, is a form of Fusarium wilt or Panama disease, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4. This fungus has devastated banana plantations in Asia over the past two decades. The African outbreak was discovered on a commercial farm in northern Mozambique earlier in 2013 in a surveillance study supported by Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo. The responsible fungus was subsequently identified at Stellenbosch University.

See IITA's news release at http://www.iita.org/2013-press-releases/-/asset_publisher/CxA7/content/new-banana-disease-to-africa-found-in-mozambique?redirect=%2F2013-press-releases&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#.Upv_QdJQKSo. For further information please contact Fen Beed, IITA plant pathologist f.beed@cgiar.org.