In order to protect the health of approximately 36,000 hectares of plantains, the main source of income for 5,000 Araucanian families, and to save an average of 18,500 direct jobs generated by the plantain agro-industry in the department of Arauca, the ICA held the second Phytosanitary Technical Roundtable of the crop.
As a result of the Phytosanitary Committee, in addition to the tasks and responsibilities of the Entity, a risk communication strategy was listened to and built, together with the attendees, that allows reaching each producer and each producer in the easiest and most effective way. player in the banana chain in the region. The strategy will be supported by the implementation of workshops, conferences, field days and field schools, preparation of primers, drills, community radio stations, regional media, among others.
The topics that will be addressed in these conferences are: good agricultural practices, biosecurity, disease identification, monitoring, early warnings, population characterization, which are designed to protect this traditional and fundamental crop for the Colombian rural population.
Taking into account that, in 2019, the ICA reported in Colombia the presence of the fungus that causes Fusarium R4T in some properties in La Guajira, as a result of inspection, surveillance and control work on this type of quarantine diseases, in the country, it was deployed immediately a strategy to close the way to the disease and prevent its entry to other regions.
These actions have been developed in association with entities, unions and national authorities, which have given good results in containing the pathogen and have been described by experts as a “world success story”. This same strategy will be applied by the ICA with the opportunities for improvement that may arise and applying the recommendations of the FAO and taking into account the population and the responsibility with the sector.
Source: Colombian Agricultural Institute, ICA