Fusarium oxysporum  f. sp . cubense – tropical race 4 (TR4), which is also referred to as “Foc 4” , is the most imminent threat to the banana industry and to those livelihoods that depend on banana production and consumption for their subsistence. There is currently no known effective treatment to control the disease for Cavendish cultivars. Therefore, preventive measures are the only viable option.

For this reason, the GLOBALG.A.P. Secretariat has developed the TR4 Biosecurity Add-on, a tool that provides farmers with a risk mitigation plan to prevent the introduction (and/or further spreading) of the TR4 pathogen to, within, and from their GLOBALG.A.P. certified farms.

Additionally, this add-on is innovative since it is designed to help raise awareness about the seriousness of the disease at a global scale by means of informative annexes. Thus, the add-on is GLOBALG.A.P.’s contribution to combating this threat that the banana industry is facing.

Unlike other add-ons, the TR4 Biosecurity Add-on is an assessment and not a certificate. This means that IFA certified producers (for bananas only) can request their CBs to perform the TR4 Biosecurity assessment together with their normal IFA audit and will receive an assessment proof. The result of the assessment will be visible in the GLOBALG.A.P. Database.

Call to Action to Save the Banana

At the GLOBALG.A.P. SUMMIT in Lima, Peru, 5 - 7 November 2018, GLOBALG.A.P. and the World Banana Forum (WBF) have presented a global action plan to save bananas against the threat of TR4. Find below the first signatories that are thus committed to fight the highly dangerous pathogen.

Use the hashtag #TR4Action when posting about this topic.