THE Department of Agriculture (DA) in Davao Region distributed 967,220 disease resistant banana variant as of December 2015 to aid growers in Davao Region whose farms were infected with the "still uncontrollable" Panama disease.
The giant cavendish tissue-cultured variant or the GCTCV 219 has one to five percent incidence of Fusarium, the fungus which causes the disease.
Plant pathologists from DA Davao are monitoring plantations in the region and conducting fora on updates for the possible treatment of the fungal disease.
DA Davao project development officer Arlene Seguiro said in an interview on Wednesday that if there are more than 5% of the bananas in a plantation which are infected with the disease, the banana grower will be qualified to avail of the free distribution of GCTCV 219 seedlings.
"We give away maximum of 1,500 seedlings per hectare and we can cater up to five farmers a day. Mostly, we can only cover five hectares per farmer," Seguiro added.
According to a validated data provided by their office, 1,458.82 ha of the 15,507.53 ha of banana plantation in Davao are already contaminated with the disease. This number, however, excludes the land area owned by big and private companies.
The fungal disease which attacks the vascular tissue of the banana plant, impairing its ability to draw water and nutrients from the soil is spreading swiftly as the whole industry hinges on one genetic specimen.
It means that the entire crops are susceptible to this disease. If one plant catches the disease, the entire plantation could be wiped out.
Seguiro added that apart from the distribution of GCTCV 219 seedlings, DA 11 also performs eradication program which involves burning of the infected plants with an incentive fee of P500 per mat.
Another option is crop shifting. DA Davao suggests farmers to plant short-term crops which are corn, cacao, coffee, and vegetables.
The seedlings will be given without charge as it is part of the assistance program conducted by DA Davao.
The disease-resistant, GCTCV 219 can be bought from the Bureau of Plant Industry at Bago Oshiro, Davao City.