MANILA, Philippines — The banana industry may be seriously affected unless biotechnologists rescue it from the deadly fungus Fusarium oxysporum that has decimated a 1,200-hectare plantation in Bukidnon.

The fungus, which the Manila Bulletin reported more than a year ago, takes root in the soil and attacks bananas, leading to a condition called Fosarium wilt that kills banana trees, and makes the soil inhospitable to crops for more than 50 years.

Earlier, the infestation was confirmed in small plantations in Bukidnon but the failure to control the fungus has led to infiltration of healthy banana stands.

Stephen Antig, executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, Monday raised the alarm for the big dollar earning industry and called for the enactment of a law that would create the National Research, Development and Extension Center for Banana (NRDECB.)

The NRDECB will conduct research on pests, diseases and other phytopathological factors affecting the banana industry. Also called the Panama disease, industry leaders said the fungus had been dormant for the past 50 years even as its presence had been reported in Indonesia and other countries.

To counteract the fatal impact on the banana export industry, companies are urging the Department of Agriculture, particularly its biotechnology unit, to work double time to develop a Cavendish banana resistant to Fosarium.

This would require years of research to develop genes resistant to Fosarium and replicate the same on all planting materials.

However, resistance to genetically-modified crops and fruits would hinder both laboratory work and field tests as what has happened to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant.

The continuing ban on the aerial spraying of fungicide has made matters worse for the banana industry.

Fusarium invaded some banana plantations in Compostela Valley, with plantations in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte as the latest victims.

Antig also asked DA to reactivate the Mindanao Banana Disease Task Force created by DA five years ago through Memorandum Order 22. The task force, comprised of stakeholders from the government and private sector, was supposed to assess the occurrence of major banana diseases and determine the extent of damage to the industry but lack of funding killed it.

Antig wants DA to finance the task force posthaste to address the problem before it exterminates the banana export industry.

The task force can develop a strategic quarantine plan and recommend measures to contain the introduction and spread of any banana disease, including the Panama disease.

Two bills on the banana research center are pending in Congress. One was filed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. seeking to create a banana research center at the University of Southeastern Mindanao in Davao City with an initial annual budget of P200 million. Senator Antonio Trillanes has filed a similar bill.

Dan Koeppel, author of “Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World,” said that before Cavendish banana became table fare, there was Gros Michel banana, a bigger and tastier fruit that was introduced in the late 19th century. It was immediately hit by the Panama disease and wiped it off the face of the earth by 1960.

Koeppel said Cavendish was adopted as substitute by big banana companies like Chiquita and Dole since it was resistant to that disease. This resistance has been battered by the hardy Fusarium.