Department of Agriculture issues alert on Moko Disease

The Department of Agriculture under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour is putting all farmers in the Territory on high alert following a Moko Disease outbreak in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and an alert instituted by St. Lucia.

Deputy Chief Agricultural Officer Mrs. Arona Fahie-Forbes said that the hosts of this disease are bananas, plantains, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet peppers, hot peppers and potatoes. She also added that the causal agent is bacteria (Ralstonia solanacearum).

According to agricultural officials when the disease is exhibited in young plants, the central leaves break at a sharp angle while still green, they wilt and subsequent plant death is rapid within a week or less. In older plants, the inner leaf first turns yellow near the petiole. The petiole breaks down, and the leaf wilts and dies. Eventually all leaves bend down and dry out.