At the Global Alliance Against TR4, our purpose is to bring together the world’s efforts to defeat TR4, a fungal disease jeopardizing bananas’ future. We’re a worldwide, multi-stakeholder community, uniting food brands, value chain companies, researchers, trade associations, financial services, the public sector and civil society. We recognize that TR4 is an urgent threat, and that we can fight it more effectively together than we ever could alone. As the Global Alliance, we’re co-ordinating research and training efforts at every stage, from the lab to the plantation. And we’re raising funds and awareness through our business and public engagement campaign, The Banana Action Group.
Securing bananas’ future isn’t just possible. It’s essential. Because bananas are more than a fruit. They’re a globally important source of nutrition, personal income, and trade. As a staple food, bananas meet the nutritional needs of 400 million people. And as a year-round export crop, they can provide as much three quarters of a farmer’s monthly income. That’s what we stand to lose, every time a banana plantation falls to TR4: food security, livelihoods, and supply chain resilience. So far, TR4 has infected plantations in 20 countries across three continents – and if we do nothing to stop it, its spread will only accelerate.
What is the Global Alliance Against TR4 doing about it? There are four core areas where we’re working to have an impact:
Prevention and Training: Working with smallholders in affected areas to implement measures against TR4 – including good biosecurity practices, early identification and containment – and form ‘TR4-proof’ plantations.
Breeding and Genetics: Using a toolbox of genetic innovations to identify and cultivate new TR4-resistant banana varieties for mass production, ultimately giving bananas a long-term future.
Methods of Control: Developing control agents, diagnostic tools and detection methods with a wide range of sustainability benefits, including helping stop TR4.
Through these workstreams supported by our partners, we’re already active in some of the world’s largest and most susceptible banana-producing countries, helping make a real difference for banana producers, the land and the economy.
Don’t miss Banana Action Group updates! Follow us on LinkedIn for news, stories from our projects, and essential information.
Sede Central. 600 m. noreste del Cruce Ipís-Coronado
Vázquez de Coronado, San Isidro 11101 – Costa Rica. San José, Costa Rica
Tel (+506) 2216 0222
Fax (+506) 2216 0233