Control of black Sigatoka disease in bananas

Abstract

The Australian banana industry is very concerned at the prospect of black Sigatoka moving south from the Torres Strait area to the main commercial production areas. Black Sigatoka would prove very difficult to control in the high rainfall areas of the Tully-Innisfail district which in 1991 produced more than 50% of the Australian banana crop with a wholesale value in excess of $120 million. The Australian banana industry lists the continued exclusion of black Sigatoka from the production areas as ahigh priority. The presence of the disease would substantially increase production costs (yellow Sigatoka costs $5 million in chemical costs alone) and might also result in marketing problems for the industry through the loss of its "Black Sigatoka free" status and the possible importation of bananas from cheap labour countries.