Suspected, unconfirmed case of TR4 in Venezuela - report

Suspected, unconfirmed case of TR4 in Venezuela - report

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Suspected, unconfirmed case of TR4 in Venezuela - report

The Venezuelan banana industry is on alert due to a suspected case of Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race IV (TR4) in the country, website El Universo reports.

However, the suspected case has not yet been reported by Venezuelan authorities.

The development comes in the same month that the devastating soil-borne fungus was confirmed in Peru. TR4 was detected for the first time in Latin America in Colombia in August 2019.

The situation was mentioned by Kléber Sigüenza, director of the Chamber of Agriculture of the Second Zone of Ecuador, on Tuesday, during a virtual conversation between the banana cluster and the media, El Universo reports.

Juan José Pons, the coordinator of the banana cluster, was quoted as saying: "The national protection plan for the control of Fusarium is of vital importance for the sector today, we already have the presence in Peru and more than a year ago it was confirmed in Colombia, which did a very good job of containment and hopefully Peru can do it efficiently; we have an alert in Venezuela," said the leader, who warned that it is not confirmed and "we can not make major speculations about it."

Additionally, having been shown images of the suspected case of TR4 in Venezuela, Alfredo Saltos, the former Ecuadorean Agriculture Minister, told local website Expreso he believed it was "clearly" the disease in question.

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