Soil-Borne Banana Fungus from Africa has New Strain, Spreading Worldwide Via Floods

A new soil-born banana fungus strain is rapidly spreading across the globe via floods as per experts.

It hit Africa a decade ago, and the advance of the disease poses a threat to Africa's food security, a genetic study conducted by Utrecht University and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) revealed.

Plant Pathology Professor Gert Kema and his colleagues give a dire warning.

Fusarium Fungus

In Mozambique, the dominant TR4 strain is negatively impacting banana farmers, which is a result of the advancing Fusarium wilt.

The disease has spread from Asia through South America and Africa over the past ten years, so this is not the only nation that has been impacted.

After the preliminary findings from Mozambique in 2013, there were no more reports for a long time.

Gert Kema, head of the Phytopathology Laboratory, said that in Africa, the illness seemed to be under control.

Sadly, experts have just learned that this isn't the case anymore.

Anouk van Westerhoven, a Ph.D. student under Kema, and Michael Seidl, a bioinformatics and data scientist from Utrecht University, worked on a study focused on the banana fungus in collaboration with a local researcher.

According to their research, the TR4 fungus has dispersed at least 200 kilometers away from the original plantation.

Genetic analysis revealed that the strains discovered in various locations are closely related, indicating that the pathogen discovered in Mozambique originated from a single source.

Based on prior encounters, Kema has expectations.

In the world of banana growers, the Fusarium fungus is well-known.

Panama disease wreaked havoc across Latin America during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

According to Kema, TR4 is a new Fusarium strain that affects numerous banana varieties in addition to this one.

It is "inconceivable" that, nearly ten years after TR4 first appeared in Mozambique, this is widely undefined regarding African banana species.

Read also: 'Panama Disease' Throws Banana Industry into Global Crisis 

Africa Outbreak

Van Westerhoven said that in the end, the initial outbreak was not contained.

Small-scale farmers, as well as people with gardens full of banana plants, are among the groups where the disease is still spreading. They are most likely unable to properly treat the disease because they are unaware of it.

She added that the issue is not "if," but rather "when"  the illness will spread to other nations in Africa.

Millions of people in nations like Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, and Rwanda eat bananas as a staple food. They frequently grow local banana strains in addition to the Cavendish banana, which is sold in supermarkets around the world.

Kema warns that not all strains have been determined to be TR4 susceptible. As a result, this disease jeopardizes the safety of their food supply.

The disease spreads quickly because the same banana is grown on plantations all over the world.

Kema explained that it is a fungus that lives in the soil, and flooding greatly aids in its spread. Additionally, the fungus may spread via contaminated tools, soil worn by shoes, and tire tread.

On plantations, there is a lot of movement and the fruits are harvested by hand. This makes it challenging to manage such a fungus.

All efforts during the epidemic of the previous century were ineffective.

Every attempt must be taken to contain the outbreak as soon as TR4 appears somewhere.

In East Africa, WUR together with its partner KeyGene is engaged in a significant breeding initiative.

Banana breeder at Keygene and lead author Dr. Fernando Garcia-Bastidas, claimed that his group has discovered a method for inducing an immune response in Cavendish through the use of an avirulent Fusarium strain.

The Real Issue

According to Kema, other bananas will eventually be available in European markets.

However, he is less concerned about whether future Western consumers will be able to consume bananas.

If the fungus spreads so quickly, the main concern is for Africa's food security, Phys Org reported.

Related article: Bananas are Going Extinct -- Can We Still Save Them?