Driving towards Lihu‘e on Kuhio highway, quarantine signs warn about transporting banana plants to and from the area. These signs are the fading echo of a state-wide initiative in 2000 to contain what has now become a rampant epidemic on
Driving towards Lihu‘e on Kuhio highway, quarantine signs warn about transporting banana plants to and from the area. These signs are the fading echo of a state-wide initiative in 2000 to contain what has now become a rampant epidemic on O‘ahu, Maui and Kaua‘i.
The banana bunchy top virus has spread and if not swiftly dealt with, may impede bananas from growing on island soil for years to come. With limited financial resources from Hawai‘i State Department of Agriculture, the burden to arrest this disease weighs on anyone who has a banana plant growing on their property.
The BBTV (banana bunchy top virus) first appeared on Kaua‘i in 1997, eight years after it had first been observed on O‘ahu. A seemingly successful but costly eradication led by HDOA lasting 15 months and destroying 25,000 plants led residents to believe the problem would not continue. Unfortunately, informed Kaua‘i farmers and Craig Kaneshige, the pest specialist at Kaua‘i’s DOA, report the disease has come back and taken a strong hold. “My partner and I have recently seen diseased plants from Kalihiwai ridge to Hanapepe. Not only right off the road, but also deep inland. My partner went hiking into the valley, and spotted wild banana plants that are infected now.”
The prognosis for a disease of this magnitude is devastating not only for local farmers, but any resident interested in having locally grown bananas at the Sunshine markets, rather than imported South American varieties available at chain grocery stores. Skeptics only need look at the BBTV epidemic that hit Australia in the 1920s, which nearly wiped out the entire producing industry, and has taken years of conscientious vigilance to keep out.
BBTV is spread by a vampire aphid that feeds on a plant and simultaneously infects it. Throughout its life span of 15-20 days the aphid will carry the disease as it moves from plant to plant, and once a plant is infected, a clean aphid can contract the disease just by feeding where the sickness already dwells. “Banana plants that show symptoms rarely bear fruit … the keikis that develop after a mother plant has been infected with BBTV are usually severely stunted … and cannot bear fruit,” states a CTAHR document describing the disease and its quick-spreading yield destruction.
One of the main problems affecting the high-speed of infection is that the aphid also likes island flowers such as heleconia.
“I was so upset to see the disease had gotten down to Hanapepe,” said Kaneshige, “my theory is that people visiting the Kaua‘i Veteran’s Cemetery had taken fresh-cut flowers to the graves with aphids living on the flower. Then they jumped the road, and now those plants, near the cemetery all have BBTV.”
“Public education is the only way any level of control can be obtained,” said Scot Nelson. “I am a plant pathologist working as a liaison between the banana industry and CTAHR at UH. We’ve been able to create educational materials and opportunities with grant monies to address the problem, but it is so hard to control and not many home owners are aware they have contributed to the problem by not recognizing that the disease is in their backyard.”
Local Kaua‘i farmer and sustainable agricultural spokesperson, Ray Maki, feels frustrated with the lack of state funds dedicated to this issue, “the individual household doesn’t have the resources or knowledge to deal with this. It would probably take at least one million dollars to deal with it, and all you have to do is look at the commercial value to realize it’s really not high on the priority list. Follow the money.”
Maki is addressing the broader crisis faced by American farmers, as subsidies and laws have contributed to the destruction of the family farm. While importing bananas is cheaper than growing them in Hawai‘i, true permaculture will never take hold if these trends continue. Sugar, pineapple and now, the banana industry race to compete with real estate and tourist ventures, a near impossibility.
Yet, Nelson and Kaneshige encourage individuals to become educated, recognize the disease and inject the infected plants with insecticide and have their corms destroyed. “We are here to give all the materials and information you need to get rid of it,” said Nelson, pointing to his Web site that explains the disease in great detail and gives step by step information on what to do. “We can give recommendations, come out to your farm, help you. But honestly, no one calls. I get maybe two calls a month on this problem,” said Kaneshige. Meanwhile Kaneshige and his partner are in charge of any and all pests/diseases for the USDOA on Kaua‘i. “We’re so busy and there just isn’t enough man-power, there’s only two of us.”
Maki wants to see more effort from the state, “that’s the real mechanism. We need a study done, a mapping of the disease, then a strict regional quarantine. The disease is now systemic, but if you can control the vector and stop the spreading then we can improve on it. I wonder if we’ll get a handle on it.”
Public apathy was best illustrated when Nelson recently held a free meeting on Hilo for anyone interested in how to control their plants, “three people showed up. It’s really time people take responsibility,” he said. Maki agrees that many of the farmer’s plants have been affected by “residential plants, where the people didn’t know how to recognize the disease,” and that education is the first step.
“Planting the somewhat more resilient ‘dwarf Brazilian’ (apple banana) variety helps, conducting regular scouting of your plants checking for symptoms that can remain latent in the plant, treating the aphids and then destroying the plants that have been infected,” are a few things Nelson suggested.
Kaneshige also explained that before injecting producing plants with Round Up Ultra/Max or Weather Max into the base of the plant, “you can dry-out the aphids by pouring soapy water on them. Then after your harvest of the remaining bananas you can inject the pesticide.”
For more information on this issue, or to see photos of symptoms visit www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/banana or call Craig Kaneshige at 274-3069 at Kaua‘i’s office of the DOA.
