Excellence in Extension

The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Extension distinguishes an exceptional Extension faculty member or team whose work has demonstrated outstanding performance and significant results. This year, the award goes to the team who have worked to revitalize the Hawaiʻi banana industry with clean, virus-free planting materials in a statewide Extension outreach program.

For decades, the local banana industry has been suffering from severe losses caused by the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) and Panama wilt. To rebuild this vital industry, farmers desperately needed clean planting material free of diseases, best management practices, and a strong statewide Extension education effort. Working with local banana industry members the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Hawaiʻi Agriculture Research Center, UH CTAHR jump-started a multifaceted strategy to manage BBTV via the distribution of tissue-cultured planting materials to statewide producers.

More than 2,000 seedlings of a cultivar tolerant to BBTV and Panama wilt were distributed statewide. Twenty-five workshops (virtual and in-person) were conducted in conjunction with distribution to advance vector management. Advanced field trainings were held to show farmers how to collect clean young crop from their newly planted fields, test for BBTV using new technology, and establish new crop lands to promote long-term sustainability of practices.

Results of this effort include:

• Bananas grown in 2021 for sales on-island increased to 3.2 million pounds, 71% higher than in 2020.
• Testimonials from Oʻahu farmers indicated that in 2019, grade A banana production was close to zero due to the long-standing nature of the BBTV disease cycle. A cooperating farmer who reported zero harvest in 2019 harvested 30,385 pounds in 2021 and 50,068 pounds in 2022.
• Another cooperator multiplied 90 virus-free starter seedlings to cover 10 acres of previously destroyed BBTV croplands.

These statewide testimonials support the HDOA report that local banana production is rebounding. This is good news for both the agricultural producers and consumers of Hawaiʻi.

Members of the CTAHR team working on this project include:

• Amjad Ahmad, Extension Agent
• Koon-Hui Wang, PEPS Department Chair
• Jensen Uyeda, Extension Agent
• Sharon Wages, Associate Extension Agent
• Emilie Kirk, Assistant Extension Agent
• Rosemary Gutierrez-Coarite, Assistant Extension Agent
• Joshua Silva, Associate Extension Agent
• Jennifer Hawkins, Junior Extension Agent
• Theodore Radovich, Extension Specialist
• Kylie Tavares, Junior Extension Agent
• Russell Galanti, Junior Extension Agent
• Jari Sugano, Oʻahu County Administrator