Bacterial Wilt: the Missing Element in International Banana Improvement Programs

Diseases caused by strains and close relatives Ralstonia solanacearum continue to be the most serious bacterial diseases in the banana and plantain industries worldwide. Moko disease in Central and South America (and in the Philippines), Bugtok disease in the Philippines, and blood disease in Indonesia, continue to spread and cause substantial losses to commercial growers as well as to subsistence farmers. Large industrial corporations have been able to obtain reasonable control of Moko disease, but at considerable cost. Outbreaks of Moko disease in the Amazon basin and of Bugtok disease in the Philippines have severely reduced the availability of bananas and plantains for the native populations. In Indonesia, blood disease has spread throughout Java and Sulawesi, threatening further investments in the banana industries of these islands. In spite of the seriousness of these problems worldwide, and the need to learn more about the relationships among these bacteria, banana and plantain improvement programs have no established projects to develop bacterial wilt-resistant varieties. The Second International Bacterial Wilt Symposium provides an opportunity for concerted action to change what is an untenable situation in banana improvement programs.