CHAPTER XXIII 



DISEASES OF BANANA 

 Banana Wilt, Panama Disease. 



History and Distribution. 



A wilt disease of bananas usually referred to as the Panama 

 Disease has during the last twenty years become widely pre- 

 valent on the Gros Michel banana in various parts of Central 

 and South America, and by its interference with the great banana 

 industry maintained or controlled by the United Fruit Company 

 has had very serious economic effects. Evidence has been 

 obtained which shows that the fungus giving rise to Panama 

 disease is specifically identical in the countries named and in 

 the West Indies, and the conclusions of reliable investigators 

 are in close agreement as to the nature of the affection and the 

 parasite concerned. Adequate descriptions of the disease have 

 been given by A. W. Drost (Surinam, 1912), S. F. Ashby (Jamaica, 

 1913) and S. C. Prescott (Costa Rica, 1917). Recently (1919) 

 E. W. Brandes has published a comprehensive account of this 

 disease as seen in Porto Rico, Cuba and Central America. 



The first record of the disease relates to the recognition of its 

 effects in Panama in 1903, and within a few years it devastated 

 plantations over large areas in Panama and Costa Rica. At the 

 present time several areas of 15,000 to 20,000 acres and upwards 

 in Panama are abandoned or badly infested, and similar con- 

 ditions prevail in Costa Rica. 



In Surinam, with the help of the United Fruit Company, a 

 large banana industry was established to replace the cacao 

 industry, which had been heavily reduced by the witch-broom 

 disease. The Panama disease was found in 1906 and in 1913 was 

 so widespread as to ensure the virtual ruin of what had become 

 a thriving business. The Gros Michel was largely replaced by 

 the Congo banana, which proved resistant, but its fruit was 

 found to be unsuitable in certain respects for commercial pur- 

 poses. In British Honduras plantations more recently estab- 

 Mshed by the United Fruit Company are at the present time 

 suffering severely from the effects of the disease. 



Panama disease was recognised in Jamaica in 1911-12, when 



several small outbreaks occurred in the Portland district. The 



strenuous efforts which were made to eradicate it did not succeed, 



but the latest ofiicial expression of opinion is to the effect that 



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