Embrapa launches free course to identify pests and diseases in banana plants

Embrapa Western Amazon has launched a new online course aimed at helping producers correctly identify symptoms caused by pests, biotic and abiotic diseases, and nutritional deficiencies in banana plants. The training is part of the e-Campo platform, the institution's digital environment dedicated to capacity building in the primary sector. Free and available to anyone interested, the course Banana Diseases and Control Methods already has around 500 enrollees in Brazil and abroad, including participants from countries such as Paraguay, Switzerland, and Angola. The initiative arose from a recurring demand from producers, who often cannot differentiate between nutritional problems and pest or disease attacks in the field. "If the producer does not know what the problem is, how will they make a decision to control that problem," explains researcher Luadir Gaparotto. The course presents, in detail, how to recognize each type of symptom and apply appropriate management measures. The ...