Banana moko: a silent threat

When talking about threats in the banana industry, concern is focused on the imminent and fearsome arrival of the deadly fusarium, but little is said about moko, an equally devastating disease, which has been silently taking root in fruit crops. Infectious foci have already been reported in plantations in 12 provinces.

Agrocalidad claims to be carrying out constant monitoring; in 2021, he says, more than 21,000 were executed. However, this does not reach all affected plantations.

Phytopathologists qualify moko or bacterial wilt as one of the phytosanitary problems with great economic impact on banana and plantain crops in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. In Ecuador it was detected for the first time in 1978 in the Amazon (Napo), but today, says Víctor Hugo Quimí, a banana expert, it is present in areas of Esmeraldas, Manabí, Los Ríos, Cotopaxi, El Oro, Santo Domingo and Sucumbíos. . Quimí, who has been working with organic products for some time to mitigate the problem, explains that this bacterium, unlike other diseases, attacks the plant in different ways, causing the death of its leaves and discoloration inside its stem, thus reducing the ability to produce the same levels of fruit.

Its spread over time has been evident, but Agrocalidad, the agency in charge of the country’s phytosanitary and zoosanitary regulation and control, now prefers not to talk about its incidence levels. Consulted by EXPRESO, it has admitted the problem via email, with greater affectation in Manabí, El Oro and Los Ríos, but it obviously reveals the number of sources of infection and its impact on affected hectares.

There are those who believe that making this problem transparent could be counterproductive, since that would scare international markets and motivate them to apply certain restrictions to the supply of Ecuadorian bananas. Just as South Africa and Argentina have done, which today already require the country to carry out a laboratory analysis to rule out the presence of moko.

But is it the way to eradicate this? Beyond fear, what is being done to stop it? Agrocalidad cites the constant monitoring. In 2021 alone, he said, more than 21,000 were carried out to detect the disease, which it controls under the parameters of the National Plan that was created in 2015 for this purpose. To this, he adds, must be added the constant training of producers on this and other health problems.

However, in the field they say they do not feel that plan of action. On the contrary, José Antonio Hidalgo, president of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE) , urges the Government to urgently design a policy that, like fusarium, includes a budget and comprehensive action measures. Not doing so, he says, is to continue exposing the sector to the risk of seeing its production and supply levels drop. “The truth is that it is quite worrying because of the way we believe it is progressing. When moko is detected, its eradication involves removing infected plants, making certain farms unable to produce for up to 14 months. Seen from that point of view, it is serious, because in this crop the fruit is cut weekly.”

Pedro Álava, current Minister of Agriculture, admits that the issue requires attention, but he is relieved to say that, unlike fusarium, there are more efficient ways to control it. And in that, he says, they are working together with Agrocalidad and the Iniap (National Institute of Agricultural Research).

The minister cites the breeding ground for trichodermas , which is nothing more than the multiplication of small fungi or soil organisms, which are expected to weaken the moko in the short term. Ignacio Sotomayor, a specialist in banana diseases at Iniap, points out that this laboratory, which previously only served for diagnosis, will be converted into an artisan farm. “The knowledge of this has always been there, but this had not been done before due to lack of resources,” he says. The idea, he explains, is that these organisms go to the field and secrete substances that ultimately act against various plant diseases. However, they are still in the product formulation and the first results will be seen within a month.

Sotomayor admits the high capacity for dissemination of this bacterium, which is why she agrees with Agrocalidad that training in the control of this issue is key. So far, he says, more than 400 events have taken place, training 11,700 farmers. “This explains how to differentiate the disease from another because there are symptoms that can be confused and create a false alarm”, another guideline is to know how they should communicate the issue and isolate the problem if it is detected.

However, Franklin Torres, president of the Federation of Banana Producers, agrees with Hidalgo in believing that if there have been measures, they have been insufficient for a bacterium that, he says, is everywhere.

It has a high presence in Los Ríos, its area of ​​influence, where it assures that no type of training has reached, neither the medium nor small farmer. “We have cases identified in Patricia Pilar and Valencia, farms that should have been under treatment for a long time, under some type of quarantine so that it does not continue to spread, but nothing is done. In other cases, the technicians have gone, they have taken samples, but to this day the owners of these haciendas receive a diagnosis.”

When asked about the magnitude of this problem, he says that he is unaware of it. “Here it is not known exactly how many hectares of bananas are planted, but the level of penetration of the disease is worse,” she clarifies. A scenario that, unfortunately, is replicated in other parts of the country.