Filipino scientists are using mutation induction to make the Lakatan cultivar resistant to the Banana bunchy top virus.

Fighting bunchy top by controlling its vector As part of a campaign to eradicate banana bunchy top disease from all commercial plantations on the far north coast of New South Wales in Australia, entomologists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries will be testing, in field and glasshouse trials, alternatives to dimethoate to control aphids.

Last August, experts gathered in Arusha, Tanzania, stressed the need for urgent action to tackle the threats posed by bunchy top disease and Xanthomonas wilt in Africa.