Banana disease in SVG

For the last two years, Agriculture officials have been battling an unknown disease that has been destroying banana plants and up to press time they were still in the dark about the identity of the plague.

Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace brought the problem to light during his address to the nation last Tuesday evening and questioned why the agriculture ministry did not make the public aware of the situation.{{more}}

But Minister of Agriculture, Montgomery Daniel back fresh from a CARIFORUM meeting in Belize, said that nothing could have been said because the identity of the disease is yet unknown.

He said that the mysterious disease was first spotted in Greggs and has been affecting bananas in several areas like Richland Park, Langley Park and Belle Isle.

He said that the disease has been killing bananas grown from tissue culture.

The Minister explained that experts were brought in twice to look at the situation and samples were sent to laboratories in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Daniel however said that the battle with the disease has not affected banana exports.

He also added that the experts at the Ministry of Agriculture have in the interim been analyzing the situation and have been systematically destroying the infected plants by burning and using the herbicide “Round-up.”

Meanwhile Chief Agricultural Officer Reuben Robertson has expressed disappointment over the length of time it has been taking for confirmation of the identity of the disease.

Robertson said that samples were sent to the Global Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom since last year.

He said that despite several follow up efforts, it was only in January this year that the ministry received official correspondence from the laboratory.

However the report indicated that some of the bacteria and fungi isolated from the samples were not associated with disease found in bananas.

“Something had to be wrong, it is either the sample was contaminated or there was an error in the interpretation of the information and results,” he explained.

Robertson said that a fresh sample had been sent off and the ministry was expecting a result any day now.

Samples have also been sent to the Jamaican Science Laboratory and Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) in Trinidad. (KJ)