Project Name：Regional project for the Prevention and Control of Fusarium TR4 of Banana in Central America

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：Guatemala, Belize, Central America

Project Description：

The purpose of the project is based on the multilateral cooperation framework, using the existing prevention and inspection mechanism between OIRSA and the plant health units of Central American countries, to promote regional prevention and control of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp cubense tropical race 4 (Foc TR4) that affects banana cultivation, thus ensuring the development of banana production in Central America.

OIRSA and the three partner countries are to develop the capacity to control Fusarium TR4 and improve the resilience of regional banana production, which has a production value of US$1.8 billion. The partner countries that will contribute to and benefit from this project are Guatemala and Belize.

Executing Agency：

TaiwanICDF、 Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria(OIRSA)、、Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (Guatemala)(MAGA)、Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise (MAFSE)

Implementation Progress：

To the end of September 2023, the following activities have been completed:

1.Completed the procurement of diagnosis and detection equipment for the national laboratories of the two central american countries.

2.Conducted a training program on Banana Fusarium wilt in Colombia, with the participation of 20 participants from government, academia, and industry. Also, organized a quarantine training program in Taiwan, with the participation of 12 government officials and technical personnel.

3.Established 18 monitoring sites (covering 187.2 hectares of banana field) in both countries, conducting field surveys 30 times, reporting a total of 100 disease outbreak notifications, and holding two expert consultation meetings with experts from the Taiwan Space Agency.

4.Hosted two regional forums with a total of 252 participants, sharing experiences in the prevention and control of Banana Fusarium wilt and the effective use of satellite monitoring in the project. Also, organizing two disease prevention exercises with 280 participants in total to enhance the emergency response efficiency of collaborating countries in dealing with Banana Fusarium wilt.

5.Conducted a total of 17 farmer training sessions with 511 participants (13 in Guatemala and 4 in Belize).

6.Produced 71 promotional reports on the prevention and control of Banana Fusarium wilt and participating in three promotional events and exhibitions.

Project Contact：MAX CHEN

Phone：02--28886139

E-mail：j.j.chen@icdf.org.tw

Signing Date：2022-11-07

Status：ongoing project