Affected fields in Mozambique

The Panama disease, also called Foc TR4, has been identified in commercial sector of banana in Nampula province and later in Chiúre district in Cabo Delgado province where it has devastated around 1500 hectares of banana production since the disease was discovered in the country.

This disease can cause large losses in banana production, on the order of 100%, when appropriate containment measures are not taken.
In response to this situation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Mozambique, represented by the National Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry (DINAS in the acronym in Portuguese), have designed the National Strategy for Containment of Foc TR4 to support banana producers in the containment / mitigation of the disease in the fields of production already affected, in order to avoid its spread to other areas of banana farming, not only in Mozambique but also in bordering countries.

In this context, FAO in partnership with the Government of Mozambique held a technical meeting to look for contributions from different sectors involved in banana production in order to improve the strategy, which will be approved later by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MASA).

During the event, the National Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Mohamed Valá stated that "the contingency plan should be strategically designed so that the disease does not spread out of the affected provinces."

Valá also said that "despite not being a staple food, banana contributes for food and nutritional security of Mozambicans and FAO support is in line with what is prescribed in government plans in terms of prevention of this type of diseases ".

For the FAO technique responsible for Production and Plant Protection, Joyce Mulilamitti, this strategy will define in a realistic and practical way what actions should be done.

"The farmers need to be warned because many of them don´t know the disease very well. At the moment what we perceive in the field is that producers need to be better informed because they can´t control something unknown, "she said.

At the same time, Mulilamitti also said that the other countries around Mozambique should be prepared.
"Mozambique is already working to control the disease. It´s important that other countries around to be alert and prepared to deal with the disease, especially those bordering on Mozambique, "she said.

The Panama disease also occurs in several other countries of the world, namely Australia Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China and Philippines.