Banana virus strikes E. Hawai'i
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Banana bunchy top virus was reported this week on a large banana farm in Kea'au, posing a major new threat to the state's $8.4 million banana industry.
The find on a 200-acre Kea'au Banana Plantation marks the first time the virus has been detected in East Hawai'i, the state's primary banana growing region.
The virus was found on 13 of 25 fields on the plantation, and experts suspect the virus may have spread through the crops for a year before it was discovered, said Nilton Matayoshi, chief of the chemical/mechanical control section of the plant pest control branch of the state Department of Agriculture.
Richard Ha, president and owner of Mauna Kea Banana Company and Kea'au Banana Plantation, has a total of about 600 acres of bananas in Kea'au and Pepe'ekeo, making him the largest grower in the state. He has about 70 employees, and most of his fruit is marketed in Hawai'i. Surveys of Ha's fields found the disease on both apple banana and the commercially popular Cavendish variety of bananas that consumers are more accustomed to seeing in supermarkets.
Cavendish is more vulnerable to the virus than apple banana, and the virus has virtually eliminated farming of Cavendish on O'ahu, Matayoshi said. The disease has also been found on Kaua'i from Hanalei to Lawa'i, and on Maui in Pukalani and Makawao.
Ha said about 35 acres of his land at the Kea'au plantation are planted with the Williams Cavendish variety, and those plants may have to be destroyed. Apple banana was planted on another 50 acres, and Ha said he hopes to salvage most of that crop.
He said he has been working with experts at the University of Hawai'i and the Department of Agriculture to determine how he should proceed.
"I want to do the right thing, because it is pretty technical how you handle this," he said. "I am optimistic that we can take care of this problem."
Ha said he has no idea yet how much the lost crops or controlling the virus outbreak could cost him.
The state Department of Agriculture attempted to block the spread of the virus on the Big Island by launching an extensive eradication project in 1999 in North Kona after the virus was discovered there.
Agriculture officials established a 10-mile eradication zone and destroyed more than 175,000 banana plants over two years as part of the effort, but the virus was never completely wiped out. In September 2002 a pocket of five infected banana plants was found in the eradication area, and the department is continuing the surveillance and eradication effort.
Sandra Lee Kunimoto, chairwoman of the Hawai'i Board of Agriculture, said the disease could severely impact the industry if it is found to be widespread in Kea'au.
Agricultural inspectors will be temporarily assigned to the Big Island from Maui, Kaua'i and O'ahu to canvass Kea'au neighborhoods to determine if the virus has spread off the plantation, Matayoshi said.
Teams will canvass Kea'au farms and neighborhoods and will ask residents to for permission to survey all banana plants and test any suspect plants. The state workers will have department-issued badges for identification.
"We ask the cooperation of area banana farmers, as well as residents who have backyard banana plants, in allowing (state agriculture) personnel to check their plants for the disease so we can determine the extent of the problem," Kunimoto said.
Plants infected by the banana bunchy top virus suffer from severely stunted growth in the plant crown, resulting in a bunchy appearance. Younger leaves are stunted with yellowish leaf edges and may curl upward. Lower leaf stems and midribs have dark, parallel streaks that may form a continuous line or appear as intermittent blotches.
Infected plants produce deformed and stunted fruit, and in advanced stages of the disease the plants do not produce any fruit.
The virus is spread by the banana aphid or by people moving and planting infected young plants, but Matayoshi and Ha said they do not know how the virus reached Kea'au.
Big Island property owners who suspect that their banana plants may have the disease should call the Hilo office of the Department of Agriculture at (808) 974-4140.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
