Context: Recently, a novel fungus strain Fusarium wilt TR4 has started infecting the Banana plantations in India. It has been described as the equivalent of Covid-19 in Bananas. Similar to Covid-19, there is no treatment yet for the new fungal disease.
Key Points

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization TR4 is one of the  most destructive of all plant diseases.
• The outbreak of the fungal disease is setting up new hotspots and threatening output in India, the world’s largest producer of bananas.
• The strain, Tropical Race 4 (TR4), was first identified in Taiwan, and has jumped from Asia to the Middle East and Africa, reaching as far as Latin America.
• It cripples plantations by first attacking the leaves, which turn yellow from their trailing edges before wilting away and there is no effective remedy yet.
• Due to large scale devastation, it is being compared to Covid-19 of the plant world.

Measures to curb the spread:

• Plant Quarantine: Scientists recommend biosecurity measures including “plant quarantine” to slow its spread.
• Growing Alternative Varieties: In hotspot Katihar, scientists have set up an experimental farm in which they are growing several cultivars. Cultivars are different varieties of the Banana species and have shown potential resistance to TR4
• Biopriming: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is advocating a set of measures, known as Biopriming.
• It is a treatment of seed with beneficial organisms, as an alternative to treatment with pesticides, prior to sowing.
• Seed treatment integrates biological (vaccination of seed with beneficial organism to protect seed) and physiological aspects (seed hydration) of disease control.
• Chain of Infection: It suggests farmers to abandon the crops whose plantations have been affected and grow rice for a year or two before returning to banana. It would help in breaking the chain of infection.

Additional Facts

• Banana is the world’s most globally exported fruit, according to the FAO.
• India produces 27 million tonnes of bananas annually and grows about 100 named cultivars (varieties).
• Most of India’s bananas are consumed domestically.
• Ecuador is the largest exporter which is currently the epicentre of the outbreak.