The Global Alliance is unified in its fight against Fusarium TR4 to halt the advance of a disease that threatens the survival of the crop. The group has received strong support from the World Bank, one of the most important sources of project funding in developing countries.

The Alliance’s Executive Committee engaged in wide-ranging discussions with delegates from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a meeting that included members of producer associations, companies representing the entire banana chain, researchers, and senior officials from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Institution Officials were given detailed information about the Fusarium TR4 spread across the globe, learned about the ongoing joint efforts of the members of the Alliance, and suggested different ways in which they could support the work against the disease.

TR4 originated in Asia and has been moving westwards. The disease has already been detected in three Latin American countries: Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

The Tropical Race 4 (TR4) strain of the Fusarium fungus, which causes a disease for which no treatment currently exists, poses the biggest threat in more than half a century to a crop that is especially important for vulnerable populations, who obtain up to a quarter of their daily caloric intake from bananas.

The meeting took place at IICA’s offices in Panama and was attended, in person or online, by representatives from several companies across the world, including Bayer and Fyffes, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the National Banana Corporation (CORBANA) of Costa Rica, the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), the Association of Banana Growers of Colombia (AUGURA), the University of Queensland (Australia) and Wageningen University (The Netherlands).

IICA established the Global Alliance against Fusarium TR4 in 2021 and serves as its Technical Secretariat. 

When thinking of possibilities of financial support for the Global Alliance against Fusarium TR4, Christopher Ian Brett, Lead Agribusiness Specialist at the World Bank, pointed out that in 2023 the institution’s portfolio of investments in the sector included 247 projects, which amount to $4 billion.

During the meeting, the Alliance presented the results it has achieved so far. Prevention and training, cultivation and genetics of resistant varieties, methods of control, and policies and support. Details were given of the progress made about the discovery of the genes that might be resistant to TR4, the design of innovative production methods including the use of soil fertilization and fungicides, and the efforts to improve biosecurity on farms.

Around 300 farmers were trained in prevention in Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia. More than 500 took part in online training.