An official at the Musa Disease Management Unit(MDMU) of the MoA which was set up in October last year to determine the location of the potentially serious disease told Stabroek News yesterday that the unit was permanently installed to focus on the issue. She said that the survey is also aimed at determining the existence of any other disease affecting the Musa specie (banana and plantain).
A notice appearing in today’s newspapers stated that the disease is seen as yellowing and drying of leaves and death of plants in a short times and that the entire banana and plantain industry is at a risk of destruction. Extension officers have since been deployed on visits to farms across the country and the MoA is urging farmers to allow the officers to inspect their fields, answer all questions asked and to follow the advice provided by the officers. The unit has since open its hotlines and can be contacted on telephone numbers 220-2249 or 220-2842.
The Black Sigatoka disease is a leaf spot disease affecting mostly banana plants and is also known as the ‘the black leaf streak’ .It was named for its similarities with the Yellow Sigatoka, another plant disease affecting the specie whose name derived after an outbreak of the disease in the Sigatoka Valley, Fiji in the Pacific Islands, which reached epidemic proportions between 1912 and 1923.
In August last year, Suriname authorities had closed the ‘back track’ route on the Corentyne for fear of that country’s agrarian sector, being affected by the disease which agriculture officials there stated was rampant in Guyana. The route was reopened after consultations between agriculture officials of the two countries and the MoA have since instituted work programmes to address the issue.
