In Ecuador, 70,000 boxes of bananas are affected each week by the Moko disease, which means the sector is losing approximately 700,000 dollars per week, stated the Ecuadorian Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Danilo Palacios, during the inauguration of the scientific committee for the control of the Moko disease in Guayaquil. Palacios stressed that, with responsible management, Moko should not be a major problem. The goal of the Scientific Technical Committee created by the government, the banking sector, producers, and academics is to control this disease.

Paola Aguilar, general manager of BanEcuador, announced that, as part of the strategies to combat this disease, they were granting producers loans of up to $150,000 with a one-year grace period and a 16% interest rate. Palacios added that the Technical Committee's scope will be extended in the future to address other diseases and problems, including drug contamination.

Patricio Almeida, executive director of Agrocalidad, highlighted the importance of intervening in abandoned plantations affected by Moko and stressed that, according to studies, only 11% of farms implement biosecurity measures. He also highlighted the importance of funding to prevent the disease. Agrocalidad has inspected 32,000 of the 70,000 hectares of bananas in the province of Los Ríos and has found that approximately 8% of the crops inspected are infected, compared to less than 3% in 2023.

The use of drones for monitoring in the province of Manabí has revealed that approximately 2,500 hectares of bananas are affected. To better control the disease, the Secretariat of Risk Management will implement an early warning system to communicate possible outbreaks to producers more efficiently.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com