Banana fungus may worsen the hunger crisis in Venezuela

CARACAS: A resistant fungus which wilts banana and plantain plants and infects soil could worsen the food crisis in Venezuela, where 6.5 million people already suffer hunger, growers groups and a United Nations agency say. The Fusarium tropical race 4 fungus has so far been located in the central states of Aragua, Carabobo and Cojedes. Venezuela's national agricultural health institute officially detected fusarium in January, but producers and other experts say there has been evidence of the fungus for years and they fear it could spread rapidly. "About 15 per cent of my bananas are affected," farmer Tomas Malave, 46, who has 2,200 plants on his one-hectare area of banana crop in Aragua, said in a telephone interview. Malave said he tried various remedies over the years, without knowing exactly what was affecting his plants. "Unfortunately I saw this disease years ago but it was only this year that the institutions determined the cause," Malave said. His neighbour Gregory Gamboa, ...