Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support, if any, they are providing to banana producing countries in the Caribbean against the TR4 strain of Fusarium.

HM Government is supporting Overseas Territories in the Caribbean to identify the presence of the TR4 strain of Fusarium. Through services provided by the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), four samples were received from the Cayman Islands in March 2021 which all tested negative for the invasive fungus Fusarium oxysporum. This is the only known instance of direct action on Fusarium. FERA is contracted by Defra to identify plant pathogens on endemic plant species in the British Overseas Territories and to provide advice regarding any findings of pathogens.

Through the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill we are supporting our world-leading scientists to use precision breeding technologies, such as gene editing, to develop plants that are more resistant to disease. There is work ongoing to develop banana varieties that are resistant to the TR4 strain of Fusarium.