Fusarium wilt of banana by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4: contingency planning, best farm biosecurity practices for prevention and capacity building in Latin America & Caribbean.

Banana world production (2015) was133.7 million ton and is the most important fruit commodity representing a gross value of 45 billion USD. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) produce 24 % of the banana world production and 64% of this production are locally consumed, representing food security and livelihoods for millions people. Seven countries of the region belong to the top-10 exporting nations. Fusarium wilt (FW) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (Foc TR4) is a major threat for this crop. Current increment of movement of persons, commodities and germplasm, increase risks of transboundary movement of pests putting under press exotic pest surveillance. Measures implementation to prevent introduction and dissemination of diseases should be a shared responsibility between National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPO) and growers. Most important defense line to reduce the threat imposed by Foc TR4 are developing and implementation of contingency plans and basic farm biosecurity procedures to prevent introductions. This report review FW dispersal ways and the best practices to prevent its introduction to production sites. Contingency plans bring scientific, organizational and regulatory bases of actions to implement by NPPO for opportune management (identification, diagnostic, eradication-confining, suppression-contention-management, financial and logistic resources) of an eventual outbreak of FocTR4 in region. Farm biosecurity practices are simple basic measures addressed to reduce risks of exotic pathogen introductions to production sites: a) Workers and public awareness. B) Persons and equipment decontamination at entry/exit of farms. C) Limitation of access of persons, transport and equipment to and among fields. D) Use of certified healthy planting material. E) Enhance of soil disease suppressiveness. F) Frequent surveillance of disease. G) Immediate report of unusual situations. Bioversity International, OIRSA, FAO and NPPO since 2009 has been developing awareness and capacity building workshops on prevention disease detection and diagnosis in LAC