Richard Ha writes:
This is a letter that Del Monte recently sent to its customers. It's interesting how world conditions can affect our local marketing.
Sometimes they get blown down. Sometimes we get blown down. We just need to keep on going.
Tag Archives: Banana
Disturbing Banana Bunchy Top Virus Trend
Richard Ha writes:
We've noticed an uptick lately in the number of banana plants in and around Hilo town that are affected with the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). Banana farmers are constantly watching for this, and lately we are seeing more of it.
We brought up this disturbing trend with Scott Enright, who is chair of the Department of Agriculture. Kamran Fujimoto had been concentrating on BBTV, but recently he has been focusing on fire ants and coconut rhinocerous beetle and traveling to O‘ahu.
Banana farmers have a tradition of being proactive. Lynn Richardson, who is a veteran banana farmer, had made a BBTV page on Facebook.
We would much rather be proactive and keep the disease under control than need to seek a GMO solution. Australia has a successful BBTV control program going, but it does have a law in place that allows inspectors to go into a person's yard to eradicate infected plants.
Our banana farmers report new infections as they see them, but we have been losing ground lately and it is a big concern.
Scott Enright listened to the banana growers and he immediately assigned two people to work with Kamran. Scott is not one to fool around. He moves fast.
Banana Bunchy Top Virus
Here I am, pulling my shift at the Banana Bunchy Top Virus Patrol booth at the recent County Fair.
An example of Banana Bunchy Top Virus. Each successive leaf is shorter than the one before. Before we brought this to the fair, we make sure to eradicate all the aphids. BBTV is spread either by planting infected plants or by the banana aphid.
A lost baby goat being carried back to its mama.
Young Tarring is a second-generation banana farmer. His dad Mike Tarring and I started growing bananas at about the same time.
And re: this question….
The answer is: Me, at 960-1057.
Will Home-Grown Bananas Become a Memory?
Richard Ha writes:
Incidents of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) have been increasing in this past year.
Fortunately, the Department of Agriculture has filled the slot that became open when Kyle Onuma retired. Kyle did an incredible job with the resources he had.
Now Kamran Fujimoto has been placed in Kyle’s slot. He is good! It’s been just a few weeks since Kamran came on board, and he’s already treated 14 BBTV sites in the Hilo area, consisting of 38 banana clumps and 167 infected plants.
This video describes the disease, and the method of control.
“Three Minutes on Banana Bunch Top Virus: What You Need to Know”
Once the Hilo area is done, Kamran will turn his attention to the Kea‘au/Puna area. The BIBGA will help Kamran do a survey of the subdivisions. We will be sure to notify the community associations to coordinate.
Also, the Big Island Banana Growers is planning an education
program about the virus. It will consist of printed materials, social media, County Fair info and working with people who supply or sell banana plants. If you see an infected plant, call the Department of Agriculture at 974-4145.
People seeking banana keiki should make sure that the source
is not infected. Be especially careful when sourcing from the Kea‘au/Puna area. We are finding that many new infected plantings are originating from there.
Our approach is a collaborative one, and we are very grateful to homeowners who have been willing to help us. This is not only beneficial to commercial growers – if we work hard at eradication, homeowners will be able to continue raising bananas. If not, bananas will become very hard to grow at home.
O‘ahu is a good example of runaway BBTV in neighborhoods. Commercial growers are still growing bananas there, but for some homeowners, growing their own bananas is becoming only a memory.
This video, “Bananas at Risk in Kea‘au, Hawai‘i,” was taken just a short time ago, but the land has been bulldozed since.
The plants there must be eradicated, though, or the land will continue to serve as a reservoir from which BBTV can be spread.
Here Comes the Banana
Richard Ha writes:
The BBC is reporting that bananas may play a very important role in the world's future as our climate continues to warm, which may cause wheat, maize and rice crops to decrease. The potato, too, does better in a cool climate and volatile weather may cause its decline as well, experts say:
Bananas could replace potatoes in warming world
By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World Service
Climate change could lead to crops from the banana family becoming a critical food source for millions of people, a new report says.
Researchers from the CGIAR agricultural partnership say the fruit might replace potatoes in some developing countries.
Cassava and the little-known cowpea plant could be much more important food crops as temperatures rise.
Bunchy Banana Top Virus in Hilo
A fellow banana farmer recently told me of an infestation of the Bunchy Banana Top Virus in Hilo.
I drove by to look and sure enough, most of the bananas at that site were infected.
If you see this symptom on banana plants, please call Kyle Onuma at the State of Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture.
Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is one of the most serious diseases of banana. Once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate or manage. BBTV is widespread in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, most of the South Pacific islands, and parts of India and Africa. BBTV does not occur in Central or South America. In Hawaii, BBTV was first observed in 1989 and is now widely established on Oahu. In 1995 it was discovered in the Kona area of the island of Hawaii, and in 1997 it was found on the island of Kauai.
The virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids and from place to place by people transporting planting materials obtained from infected plants. There is no cure for BBTV. Some banana varieties, like the Cavendish types, are more readily infected with the virus, but no variety of banana is resistant. Banana plants that show symptoms rarely bear fruit, and because they are reservoirs of the virus, they must be destroyed. BBTV is a serious threat to Hawaii’s banana industry and to the productivity of banana plantings in home gardens…. Read the rest here
Banana Bunchy Top is a very serious banana virus. It adds another layer of cost to banana farming.
We need to renew our vigilance.
Local Banana Mo Bettah
Someone who commented on one of my blog posts mentioned that bananas grow all over his home island of Madeira. He said that their bananas have some marks on them, but the tourists like them.
It reminds me of the time an engineer from Chiquita Banana in Costa Rica called me when he stopped over on O‘ahu on his way to the Philippines. He knew we were one of two banana farms in the world about to be certified “ECO-OK” by the Rainforest Alliance.
Although we were actually the first to be certified, we had to wait until a Central American farm could officially be certified at the same time with us. We heard that it would not have been good for a farm outside of Central America to be declared ECO-OK first.
We were at the Ritz Carlton with Kate Heaton from the New York office of the Rainforest Alliance, and she was in contact with the Costa Rica office, waiting to hear if we could go ahead and make the announcement. Exciting times. The large banana plantations in Central America were resisting having to become certified, and here we were — a banana farm in Hawai‘i — causing them so much grief.
Anyway, the Chiquita engineer told me he was going to the Philippines to help set up a high-elevation banana plantation. The objective was to get the bananas to mature more slowly, so they would taste better — just like the ones in Hawai‘i and Taiwan.
So that is the story of why Hawai‘i bananas taste better. They are further north of the equator than Central and South American bananas, and because of that they take longer to mature. This allows more complex tastes to develop.