Ecuador: Fusarium Race 4 increases banana production costs

This March 9, 2023, the Costa Rican Banana Corporation (Corbana) announced, in conjunction with the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), the date of the ninth International Banana Congress in the United States, of which our country will be part next May, from 23 to 26. The general manager of Corbana, Jorge Sauma, and Marienella Ubilla, president of the AEBE Board of Directors, gave the date in a virtual meeting in which they also discussed various topics. Among the points that most worry the representatives of these two groups is the advance of the Fusarium Race 4 fungus, present in several countries such as Colombia (since 2019), Peru (2021) and Venezuela (2023), which causes alerts and new expenses among Ecuadorian producers. Sauma points out that the spread of this disease that affects plantains and bananas represents a threat to the 500 million workers in this field. Marianella Ubilla, president of AEBE, clarified that the plague has not reached Ecuador, but it ...