'Panama' disease in Malbhog bananas causes problems

The Panama disease has started appearing in Malbhog bananas, a native species of Chitwan. Due to the disease, farmers have started to change the species of banana.

Thakur Sapkota of Ratnanagar Municipality-12 has been cultivating bananas on 25 bighas of land. He has been cultivating bananas for ten years now. “Green apples are cultivated in 15 bighas of land and Malbhog bananas in the remaining 10 bighas", says Sapkota. "Panama has come as an enemy of Malbhog bananas. We have not been able to come up with a solution to this for the last six years", he adds. 

Most of the banana farmers in Chitwan are worried about the disease in their banana plantations. Furthermore,  this species of bananas are also facing problems like rotting, dying and rotting of roots. For the last six years, this problem has been causing problems for other farmers.

Farmer Narayan Dutta Pant of Ratnanagar-12 says that even though the disease was not seen in the first year of banana planting, it started appearing in the second year of plantation. "Banana cultivation is done in about 5 bighas of land. No matter where you plant, Malbhog bananas, problems start to arise from the second year", says Pant who has been cultivating bananas for the last eight years. "Despite good cultivation in the first year, the disease spreads to 40 percent of cultivation in the second year and 70 percent in the third year. Bananas have been destroyed for the fourth year in a row", he adds. 

Banana cultivation is done on about 2,100 hectares of land in Chitwan. According to Janak Pant, general secretary of the district branch of the Banana Growers' Association, about 30 percent of them have contracted the disease. "We have tried to be self-sufficient in bananas but the objective has not been achieved due to disease in bananas of Malbhog variety," he said. "Farmers are now terrified as the disease continues to spread." At present, Panama disease has been reported in Kalika, Khairhani and Ratnanagar.

Although the farmers have requested the government to take initiative in this regard, it has not been fruitful. "We had requested the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, Agricultural Knowledge Center, and the state government to diagnose the disease but no initiative has been taken so far," said Pant. 

It is estimated that the disease entered Nepal 13 years ago from India. In Chitwan, it has been spreading widely for the last six years. According to Indra Sharma Dhungana, agriculture officer of the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Project, there is a problem in eradicating the disease. “Bananas have been infected with the fungal disease for six years. The world's practice shows that it cannot be solved," he said. "After our efforts failed, we called the team from NARC to investigate, but it was not done. After that, there was no attempt to call a scientist from China to investigate. ”

Secretary-General Pant says that the disease can be reduced even if it cannot be eradicated. "When planting bananas of Malbhog variety, use abundant dung manure and if the soil is not cultivated even once, the disease can be reduced," he says. It is estimated that 750 farmers in the district have been cultivating bananas commercially. According to Agriculture Officer Dhungana, most of the farmers prefer the Malbhog variety as it tastes sweet and produces more. 

He suggests separating diseased bananas from non-diseased ones. Farmers here have started planting 'Jinain' variety of bananas as an alternative to the Malbhog bananas. Chitwan is considered to be the highest banana-producing district. According to government statistics, 80,000 metric tons of bananas are produced here annually. About 40 percent of the country's production of bananas is produced here, but 60 percent of the total demand for bananas in Nepal still comes from India, according to the businessman.