Panama disease: an old nemesis rears its ugly head: Part 1. The beginnings of the banana export trades

Abstract : Banana and plantain (a type of banana) are the most important agricultural products in the tropics. Over 100 million metric tons of fruit are produced annually and that which enters international commerce is worth $5 billion per year. Locally consumed fruit are major staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and in countries such as Rwanda and Uganda, per capita consumption approaches 1 kg/day. Diseases are major constraints in the production of this important crop. They affect every organ of the plant and are caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes. They reduce yield; affect the appearance, shelf life, and marketability of harvested fruit; debilitate the host plant; and, in the case of systemic vascular wilts, kill plants. Panama disease (fusarium wilt) is the most significant vascular wilt of banana. Interested readers are referred to an earlier article in Plant Health Progress in which the disease's distribution, symptoms, cause, epidemiology and management are discussed. The destruction that Panama disease caused in the early export trades is a prime example of the risks that are inherent in the use of crop monocultures. These epidemics also demonstrated the profound influence a plant disease can have on local and regional communities. Where economies were based largely on export bananas, Panama disease caused financial hardship, unemployment, displacement, and social and political unrest.

Keywords : EPIDEMIOLOGY; HISTORY; FUSARIUM OXYSPORUM F. SP. CUBENSE; PLANT INTRODUCTION; HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS; LATIN AMERICA; FUSARIUM WILT

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