We are developing a wide range of initiatives to limit the spread of TR4. These include:

• Building a set of standard and globally accepted biosecurity practices, which can be customized to meet regional and local contexts
• Developing training modules for delivery in face-to-face and digital formats
• Disseminating soil testing kits and other tools for TR4 detection
• Working with governments to establish national and regional TR4 contingency plans
• Training national TR4 experts in various countries, who can run workshops
• Establishing and building partnerships with global and regional organizations
• Developing activities that contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic development, and to the improvement of the livelihoods of banana producers

We have devised a three-stage programme:

Build capacity for evaluation.

This includes assembling teams of biotechnologists and pathologists, building capacity for high-throughput screening, establishing reference genomes, and developing new editing techniques.

Identify natural resistance.

The next step is to screen a wide range of banana varieties for potential resistance. With enough data, we can map candidate genes for loss of susceptibility to TR4, identify markers to assist breeding, and establish a potential path forward for gene editing.

Develop resistant varieties.

Once natural alleles for resistance are isolated, we can begin a breeding programme to evaluate candidate strains. We will also work with regulators worldwide to advance evaluation and product development as quickly as possible, while ensuring safety.

Here our programme includes:

• Testing and designing innovative production methods, including optimized fertilization concepts and fungicide efficacy
• Establishing the role of biological and microbiome solutions
• Determining the interaction between insects, nematodes and weeds in relation to TR4’s spread and persistence
• Establishing a platform for aerial and on-ground TR4 diagnostics
• Building capacity and tools for laboratories to identify and analyze TR4

Holding a multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral donor meeting in Q3/4 2021

By combining the technical expertise, global networks and resources of a broad range of food value chain stakeholders with donors, our intention is to set the Alliance up for long-term success.

Next steps

Defining and further developing region-specific budgets, implementation timelines and specific operational requirements for each workstream.