International conference on Banana Fusarium Wilt Disease in Africa
Three days, followed by two satellite sessions for Southern Africa and Northern Africa, to increase awareness, provide updates, discuss strategies and inform on TR4 management.
The conference on banana Fusarium wilt disease in Africa consist of two components. The first component will include an international conference in which researchers from around the world will discuss experiences in dealing with Fusarium wilt, preventing Foc TR4 from entering countries, and managing the disease. The conference will be concluded with a short strategic session, facilitated by the FAO, on next steps to deal with Foc TR4 in Africa. The second component will include two satellite sessions of which the first will provide feedback from SADC member countries on activities conducted in the region (surveillance, sample collection and strategic planning), and the second will include a regional discussion on the occurrence of Fusarium wilt in North Africa and the Middle East.
Objectives
The aim of the conference will be to bring together stakeholders in banana production in Africa to discuss the situation of Fusarium wilt TR4 on the continent as well as global developments related to its spread, prevention, detection and management. Specific objectives will include (i) to increase awareness about Foc TR4 at all levels, (ii) to provide updates on new detections, (iii) to learn about the advances in innovative management options, (iv) to assess the situation vulnerability of bananas grown in Africa, and (v) to discuss a strategy to prevent Foc TR4 from spreading and threatening food security on the continent.
Hosts
The meeting will be co-hosted by Stellenbosch University, the FAO’s regional office for Southern Africa, and the FAO’s headquarters in Rome.
Donors
The European Union
Meeting platform
Zoom
Background information
Bananas in Africa are threatened by a soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc TR4), which has caused significant losses in other countries where banana is produced. Foc TR4 is highly virulent and affects many banana varieties, including the widely produced and exported Cavendish variety. In the past 10 years Foc TR4 has spread from Southeast Asia, where it was restricted for almost 20 years, to other parts of the world that include Africa (Mozambique and Mayotte Island), Latin America (Colombia, Peru), the Near East (Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Oman) and the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan). It is thus anticipated that Foc TR4 would spread to other countries on the African continent where the fungus could threaten banana production and the livelihoods of small growers.
To prepare member countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) against the possible incursion of Foc TR4, a regional Training of Trainers workshop was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and presented by Stellenbosch University (SU) in 2020 as part of the STOSAR (Support Towards the Operationalization of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy) project. This is now followed by two further FAO projects, called ‘Specialised services to determine risk posed by banana Fusarium wilt TR4 in four SADC member states at high risk, increase awareness on Foc TR4 in Africa, and identify Foc strains collected from the region’, and ‘Development of guidelines and provision of training on prevention and management of banana Fusarium wilt disease - Foc TR4’, in which awareness about Foc TR4 will be raised throughout Africa and the Near East by means of a virtual conference on Fusarium wilt.
Information