Banana farmers urged to be prepared for possible increases in pest populations

The Banana Board is urging banana and plantain farmers to be prepared for possible increases in pest populations following the recent heavy rains caused by Hurricane Beryl.

Bananas are known to attract varying numbers and types of pests.

Once flooding occurs, roots are often left waterlogged, which creates the ideal environment for pests.

General Manager of the Banana Board, Janet Conie, tells JIS News that if fields are not drained properly, bacterial pests will attack plants.

“If water sits in the root zones for three days, your plant is going to die... because bacterial pests start eating the roots and start going up the corm, so that's the first thing. After the hurricane, if you have water in your roots then you need to go in and prepare your drains and get the water to drain away from the plant root,” she advises.

Conie says while the farmers are instructed to chop up the damaged plants as quickly as possible, this act should be paired with the proper clearing of debris.

“Move the debris away from the region of the roots. Put them in the intervals – the middle between the rows – because when you chop a plant, the ooze from the planting material attracts the borer weevil, which is the weevil that can eat the corm or the section of the plant which is below the ground,” she notes.

Once eaten, plants will not be able to take up nutrients, and fertilisers used will be ineffective.

The Banana Board is advising that after the debris is properly removed, then treatment can begin for both weevils and nematodes.

“Nematodes are microscopic worms that eat the roots. The nematode treatment is a nematicide. The borer weevil is an insect, so that would require an insecticide. We recommend Actara, which is the common one that the farmers are aware of. It works best for borer weevil and there are a number of nematicides that we recommend as well,” Conie says.

Farmers should treat the roots for both banana and plantain, since the borer weevil is the most damaging, as it eats big areas. The microscopic nematodes will eat the smaller roots.

Conie says treatment will help roots to recover and enable plants to take up the next application, which is the fertiliser.

“The fertiliser will make the plant healthier and grow faster. The first fertiliser you're going to put on is nitrogen fertiliser to get the leaves to push foliage. Then we will give you the treatment as to how to treat the pest and how to nourish the plants over the nine-month period that you need to do this, until the bunch arrives,” she adds.

While the plant is growing over the nine months and the leaves are coming, banana and plantain farms are now susceptible to the black sigatoka disease, a fungal disease of the leaves.

There are treatments that you must put on at intervals, and the Banana Board provides detailed guidance on how to correctly apply them.

“You don't put on just one, you must alternate them in order to ensure that you don't build up resistance in the fungus for the pesticide you're putting on. We'll give you a treatment regime as to how to apply treatments over this nine-month period. This will ensure that your leaf pod control is okay, so that you aren't producing leaves and losing them to fungal disease,” she says.

These treatments are also necessary while plants are being fertilised, to ensure they produce the right sized bunches and that plants will have enough potash and nitrogen to make these bunches fill out and do so quickly.

Following the recovery regime, which Conie deems as absolutely necessary, plants usually come back in nine months.

“There's a full regime that we provide, so when the farmers are called to meetings by the Banana Board for training and when we send out our information on treatment, which we are doing now, they need to follow the instructions and they'll come back in as short a time as possible. We know all of this is labour and all of this is material cost, but this is what is required,” she says.

“We also know that over this nine-month period farmers are not going to be earning, but this is what is necessary to bring back the bananas. Once you have established you can continue to produce, we ask that farmers are mindful and keep their eyes peeled for anything different or for anything new,” she adds.

Although the focus of recovery efforts is on existing diseases and pests, Conie is also urging farmers to be vigilant of the Tropical Race 4 (TR4) Disease.

“We're still on alert for TR4 disease. We don't yet have it on the island, but at a time like this when the plants are coming back, you must be vigilant. You also need to follow the protocols that we're telling you for TR4 – don't allow any and anybody to come on your farm. If you're using persons that are migrant labourers and they're using their own tools, remember, disinfect their shoes and tools before they come on your farm,” she urges.

For details on how your banana and/or plantain farms can recover after Hurricane Beryl, farmers can call 876-439-9504.

- JIS News

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