S Krishnegowda (65) and S Krishnappa (76) are having their post-breakfast tea on a narrow red oxide verandah in Devarasanahalli, a village in Nanjangud taluk in Mysore. When asked if they knew who were currently growing the Nanjangud rasabale in the village, they engage in some intense discussion.
“Suri has rasabale on his farm.”
“Which Suri?”
“Cheluvappa’s son, Suri.”
“No, no. This year he is not growing rasabale. Last year he lost half the crop.”
“Mahendra? Yes, Mahendra is growing rasabale. Not too much, some half an acre or so.”
S Krishnegowda and S Krishnappa in Devarasanahalli village
N Mahendra is the sole Nanjangud rasabale cultivator in all of Devarasanahalli, which until three decades ago was the largest producer of this variety of banana. In all of Nanjangud taluk, the rasabale is grown in just over 10 acres now.
Owing to the specific qualities that are due to the place of origin (taste, smell and pulp quality), the Nanjangud rasabale was given the Geographical Indication (GI) protection in 2005 under the Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. It was hoped that inclusion in the GI registry would give renewed impetus to its cultivation.
The slump began when water from the Kabini dam (locally referred to as the Beechanahalli dam after the village the reservoir is located in) was used for irrigation instead of the rainwater pond in the village. “That year, all the rasabale crops died. Only one farmer who had grown Yelakki bale reaped a good harvest,” recounts Krishnegowda. Since then, rasabale farmers have shifted to growing other varieties of banana like the Yelakki bale and Pach bale.
What is destroying the rasabale plants?
Mahendra is growing 300 rasabale plants in 15 guntas of land. Over the last 12 months, he has spent Rs 5,000 on ‘medicines’ (pesticides), Rs 8,000 on fertilisers, Rs 10,000 on agricultural labour and Rs 5,000 on drip irrigation. “On an average, one plant requires an investment of Rs 100,” he says.
Nanjangud rasabale bananas
Rasabale banana sells at Rs 5 or Rs 6 apiece in Nanjangud town. Each plant yields around 35 to 40 such bananas. “There is good profit if the crop is successful,” he adds. But out of the 300 plants, 60 have died without yield. He points at the rotting stem of a freshly uprooted plant and says, “All 60 were attacked by the Panama disease.”
The Panama Wilt disease, a fungal infection caused by the Fuserium Wilt pathogen, has been the bane of rasabale farmers. The symptoms aggravate and start showing just before the flowering stage. The leaves turn yellow and wither, the base of the stem splits and the roots rot, destroying the plant.
“The fungus spreads by contact. They survive as spores on carriers and multiply once they come into contact with a host, like the rasabale plant in this case,” says Dr Vasanth Kumar Thimakapura, an agricultural scientist. Thus, the soil-borne disease can spread through running water, farm implements and infected planting material.
“When the Kabini dam was opened, fungal infection restricted to a certain area spread to wherever the water flowed. The soil of Devarasanahalli wasn’t spared either,” explains Dr Thimakapura. The pathogen stays in the soil for 30 years once it gets affected. Not just water, but tractor tyres, sickles and other farm implements also become its carriers. The ‘suckers’ or the lateral shoots of the parent plant used as planting material can further propagate the disease.
The Fuserium Wilt fungus was responsible for wiping out the popular Gros Michel banana variety in the 1950s. It originated in Panama (hence the name Panama Wilt) and spread to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador, obliterating the variety. The Pach bale or Cavendish variety is resistant to the disease and has now substituted the Gros Michel.
With government help, a few success stories
To encourage rasabale cultivation, the Horticulture department gives subsidies on chemicals, drip irrigation, mulching sheets and planting material, says Navyashree, a technical consultant in the Horti Clinic, Mysore. “Each year, a ‘target’ in terms of area and produce is fixed and subsidies under the Comprehensive Horticulture Development programme are given until the target is reached,” says Shivakumar, Assistant Horticultural Officer, Nanjangud. Under this scheme, Rs 99,000 gets earmarked for one hectare of GI crop.
Sannappa Gowda’s rasabale cultivation is a success story. He has planted 1,200 plants in 1.5 acres of land in the neighbouring village of Mullur this crop-year, after a profitable harvest of 400 plants in the previous year. He received a subsidy of Rs 39,000 for neem oil, banana special micronutrients, manure and the cost of planting material in 2018.
“The first time, 10-15 plants died in the sixth month. I was also scared like the other farmers. But it is normal for some plants to die in any variety banana crop, so I kept at it,” says Gowda.
Sannappa Gowda’s rasabale plantation
The government also gives subsidies for labs interested in tissue culture of the planting material, to ensure the suckers are disease free. “The suckers are only disease free and not disease resistant. And since the soil is infested, the problem is not really solved,” says Dr Thimakapura. Another problem with tissue culture of the rasabale is that its multiplication rate is very low and identifying genuine, healthy parent plants is difficult, says Dr GSK Swamy, Professor, College of Horticulture, Mysore.
Crop rotation and drip irrigation have been effective in managing the disease. “Merely killing the pathogen with fungicides will not help because by the time the symptoms become apparent, the roots have been damaged, and the plant cannot survive without roots. A treatment mechanism that overcomes this damage is necessary,” says Dr Swamy. Effective management of the disease needs awareness among farmers, and research and implementation, he adds.
Until the rasabale gains its lost glory, one can taste the fruit in Kempegowda Angadi, one of the only two shops that sell it. Farmers from all the villages sell their rasabale crop to these shops.
Kempegowda Angadi, one of the two shops that sells the rasabale in Nanjangud town
“The shop is in Nanjangud town. Walk straight on the cinema talkies road, you will find it. It is opposite the brandy shop,” direct Krishnegowda and Krishnappa helpfully.
Pragati KB, a law graduate from National Law University, Jodhpur, is currently studying journalism in Chennai. After law school, she was a Teach for India fellow for two years and taught primary school children in an Urdu medium government school in Bengaluru.