A Peruvian organic banana cooperative has had to keep 40% of its production out of the export market this year due to problems with red spot disease, website Agraria.pe reported.

Piura Center for Small Organic Banana Grower Associations (CEPIBO) president Luis Alberto Ruiz Medina, told the publication his group accounted for 650ha of the fruit, producing 65,000 boxes of organic bananas each month.

"Out of the 100 boxes per hectare that we produce [per month], only 60 boxes are exported. The rest go to the domestic market, as red spot is present in the fruit's skin, preventing its arrival in international markets," he was quoted as saying.

He said CEPIBO's technical team was working on an emergency plan for integrated pest management which could be put into practice across the organization.

"The technicians are doing cultural work, which helps us when we apply a product or organic control method to lower the incidence of red spot," Ruiz Medina told Agraria.

He added that other pests that attacked bananas in the region were the cochnieal, scales, whiteflies and red spiders, among others, however they were not causing economic losses. However, there were fears among growers that insect populations would grow out of control, prompting the use of biological control.

Related story: Peru: CEPIBO plans to raise banana yields by 50%

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