News and Events


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Giant Success

Giant Success 28 September 2017

Giant Success

East Hawai‘i 4-H had a huge presence at the Hawai‘i County Fair—both as volunteers and producers. In fact, they set four state records for produce—including a 20+ pound kalo and 137+ and 2+ pound tomato.

Samoa Swine Survey

Samoa Swine Survey 20 September 2017

Samoa Swine Survey

CTAHR Specialist Halina Zaleski assists in American Samoa’s first swine disease survey in two decades.

Irrigation Covered

Irrigation Covered 13 September 2017

Irrigation Covered

Choosing, funding, and using irrigation systems and conservation groundcovers was the focus of a Cooperative Extension workshop for orchardists at the Kona Extension Office and Research Station.

Documents to download

  • irrigate(.jpg, 90.61 KB) - 1774 download(s)

Myanmar Mission

Myanmar Mission 13 September 2017

Myanmar Mission

Glen Fukumoto and Jonathan Deenik teamed up to teach poultry waste composting and soil fertility to Myanmar farmers and officials through a USAID–funded Farmer-to-Farmer workshop series.

Digest this…

Digest this… 13 September 2017

Digest this…

Anerobic biodigester technology has improved the quality of life for Cambodian farmers, turning animal waste to fuel and fertilizer, thanks in part to MBBE researcher Samir Khanal.

‘Ulu Day on Maui

‘Ulu Day on Maui 12 September 2017

‘Ulu Day on Maui

Maui Master Gardeners helped homeowners select appropriate trees and TPSS’s Noa Lincoln described his research on the staple food crop during the Valley Isle’s first La ‘Ulu (Breadfruit Day).

New 4-H Horse Pen

New 4-H Horse Pen 12 September 2017

New 4-H Horse Pen

Na Lima A Me Na Pu‘uwai O Kohala 4-H Club families and community sponsors celebrated their new riding pen with a horse show, barbecue and other activities.

Landscape Tested

Landscape Tested 12 September 2017

Landscape Tested

About 50 landscapers participated in a practice exam for the 2017 O‘ahu Landscape Industry Certified Technician (LICT) Program at Waimanalo Research Station in August.

Compost That

Compost That 9 August 2017

Compost That

Cooperative Extension faculty addressed green and brown farm waste at a Hands-On Composting Workshop they organized with Organic Matters Hawai‘i in Kona.

Pine-ing Away

Pine-ing Away 9 August 2017

Pine-ing Away

Brent Sipes, PEPS, recently trained a group of ethnic-minority Garo people on environmentally sound and safe pineapple cultivation in rural Bangladesh.

Funded on Maui

Funded on Maui 3 August 2017

Funded on Maui

Maui County has funded eight CTAHR projects for FY18, from control of Axis deer and fruit flies to evaluation of taro varieties and expansion of turmeric to youth bee-keeping workshops.

A Waimanalo Welcome

A Waimanalo Welcome 3 August 2017

A Waimanalo Welcome

8/3/2017 - The Waimanalo Research Station hosted UH President/UH Manoa Chancellor David Lassner on July 28.  He was greeted with chants by Malama Honua Charter School students, who use the site, and with a welcome from from Interim Dean Rachel Novotny and Malama Honua Executive Director Herb Lee.

KIDS COUNT

KIDS COUNT 15 June 2017

KIDS COUNT

June - 2017

Center on the Family announces release of Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book for Hawai‘i, which uses 16 indicators to rank the state on what children need to thrive.

4-H for Hawai‘i

4-H for Hawai‘i 8 June 2017

4-H for Hawai‘i

It's not just livestock

Beyond livestock, 4-H promotes youth well-being, leadership skills, community engagement, and STEM activities, says state coordinator Jeff Goodwin.

The Bee’s Knees

The Bee’s Knees 7 June 2017

The Bee’s Knees

Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences’s Scott Nikaido explains the importance of pollinators to Hawai‘i crops and how people can support pollinator health by using fewer insecticides and more pollinator-friendly plants.

Prepared Youth

Prepared Youth 17 May 2017

Prepared Youth

Hawai‘i is the second state that trained adults to instruct kids in a youth preparedness national pilot project. 3 4-H agents were certified through the Hawai‘i Youth Preparedness Initiative.

A Web Winner

A Web Winner 11 May 2017

A Web Winner

Hawai‘i Association of County Agricultural Agents nominated Andrea Kawabata for their national organization’s Communications Award for her coffee berry borer beetle website.

GoFarm Grows

4 May 2017

GoFarm Grows

The GoFarm Hawai‘i beginning farmer training program received new grants from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture, Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Kamehameha Schools.

Prevent the Parasite

4 May 2017

Prevent the Parasite

With new cases of rat lungworm reported in the Islands, Extension Agent Jari Sugano was featured on Hawaii News Now offering some tips on reducing the risk of the disease.

Gut Feeling

Gut Feeling 4 May 2017

Gut Feeling

GoFarm and Ag Incubator alumnus and entrepreneur Rob Barreca and graduate student Surely Wallace promoted fermented foods in a recent Honolulu Star-Advertiser article.

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9 February 2021

Banana is Back!

Extension distributes a disease-free culture to re-establish Hawaiʻi orchards

Banana is Back!

It was less than four years ago when our banana industry was reeling from the double punch of Panama Wilt and Bunchy Top Virus.

With the value of their product in freefall, Oʻahu farmers reached out to Extension. In response, Amjad Ahmad, Koon-Hui Wang, and Jari Sugano obtained a Specialty Crop Block Grant Program administered by the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture.

The grant allowed Extension’s Jensen Uyeda to screen field-grown banana plants for the virus, using a new Agdia Amplify RP XRT rapid DNA amplification technology – an improvement over the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, method. Then, Extension partnered with Dr. Ming Li of the Hawaiʻi Agriculture Research Center and East County Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau to move clean, BBTV-free plants into tissue culture for multiplication.

Fast forward to now.  With Extension’s help, banana growers on Oʻahu’s Windward side are re-starting new banana fields, using BBTV-free keiki plants derived from tissue-cultured mothers. Extension has also developed a rotational insecticide program, designed to work in conjunction with the BBTV tissue culture program.

“We were just about to stop growing apple banana because we had no resources for clean planting material,” says Clyde Fukuyama of Kahuku Farms. “We are very excited and looking forward to start increasing our plantings again. This will definitely help and benefit our farm.”

To date, 875 tissue-cultured banana plants have been distributed to 22 growers, and Extension is optimistic the program has the potential to re-establish previously destroyed banana orchards, and enable growers to rebound from the devastating effects of BBTV and Panama wilt. The initial success has led to another grant secured to distribute a larger number of seedlings (5,000-10,000) to statewide producers. 

“With almost a thousand BBTV-free plants distributed to growers, along with rotational insecticide, we’re hopeful the local banana industry will rebound quickly,” says Jari. "It’s important to note, these plants are not disease resistant — just free of the virus. Growers must closely follow the insecticide rotation in order to keep the aphid vector away.”

Read more about CTAHR’s integrated pest-management program in “Banana Pest and Disease Management in the Tropical Pacific: A guidebook for banana growers” by Koon-Hui, Jensen and Jari.