Ecuador will receive a second banana variety resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (FOC R4T) on Thursday, April 18. This banana variety, known as GAL, comes from Israel and is distributed by Rahan Meristem. This import, the result of the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Agrocalidad, Iniap, and the Rahan Meristem company, was announced by Ecuador's Banana and Plantain Cluster. The country will start trials following the established biosafety protocols.
This initiative responds to the commitment of the authorities and the private sector to protect the sustainability of national banana production against the Fusarium tropical race 4. This is the second variety resistant to FOCR4T that the country imports as part of the cluster's efforts to diversify cultivation options to prevent the risks posed by this fungus. The first one was the Formosana 218 variety, imported in April 2022. Ecuador, whose main export variety is Cavendish (after the disappearance of the Gors Michel variety due to Fusarium race 1), faces the threat of Fusarium race 4, which has already been detected in neighboring countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela.
Trials with the Formosan variety continue, with final results expected by 2025. The trials are already in the commercial stage, stated José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of AEBE, with provisional permits issued for its controlled distribution. The process with the GAL variety could take up to 24 months of testing. In addition, virtual conferences have been initiated to discuss FOCR4T-resistant varieties and the analysis of transgenic options.
Source: eluniverso.com