EDITORIAL: We must do more to boost banana yields

Bananas are a staple in the tropics, including the East African countries. However, banana-farming in our part of the world is yet to be accorded the distinction that is still latent in the crop. That’s why banana farmers in Uganda and Tanzania can produce only a measly nine (9) per cent of their annual production potential.

This notwithstanding, what the two notable banana-producing East African nations are actually producing annually –valued at $4.3 billion (roughly Sh9.84 trillion in total) – amounts to a half of all the bananas produced on the African continent!

Considering that the bananas output is pegged at only nine per cent of the annual production potential, imagine what the two countries – and, by extension, Africa as a whole – would be earning if they were producing the crop at their full potential!

But, this is not currently happening. As noted in The Citizen on Thursday, analysts have established that the East African countries do not routinely produce at their full potential largely because their banana-farming is severely constricted by continued growing of low-yielding banana varieties.

This tactical shortcoming is further compounded by near-rampant pest attacks (weevils, banana aphids, nematodes, etc) and diseases.

Banana plant diseases include – but are not limited to – banana wilt/moko disease;black and yellow sigatoka; banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)disease; banana bract mosaic virus (BBMV) disease; banana streak virus disease; crown/head, heart and stem-end rot.

Five-year programme dubbed ‘Breeding Better Bananas’

In concerted efforts to improve banana-farming in East Africa, the Nigeria-headquartered International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is coordinating a five-year programme simply titled ‘Breeding Better Bananas’ (BBBs).

Jointly implemented by IITA National Offices and partners in Uganda and Tanzania, the BBBs project is working on breeding improved banana varieties which are not only “resistant to key pest-and-disease threats,” but which also “meet users’ preferences and needs.”

For starters, the focus is on two popular banana varieties, namely Matooke (a.k.a East Africa Highland Banana) and ‘Mchare’ – both grown mostly in Uganda and Tanzania.

The BBBs programme is led by a Ugandan research scientist, Dr Jerome Kubiriba, head of the Banana Programme at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation.

Addressing researchers at an international meeting in Uganda convened to “seek ways to improve production of one of the major staple food crops in the region,” Dr Kubiriba said“bananas are immensely important in the (East African) region; but they are heavily attacked by pests...”

The BBBs message comes across loud and clear: Ugandans and Tanzanians are heavily losing out to pests and diseases in the banana productivity stakes. But,if the two countries can generate $4.3 billion annually from pests-and-diseases-ridden banana farming –and are, consequently,producing only nine per cent of their potential – imagine how much more they could produce without the hydra-headed pestilential maladies!

For example, if Uganda and Tanzania could effectively tap 80 percent of their potential annually, the two would generate $38.2 billion (Sh87.47 trillion)!

With such relatively colossal returns, we can only wish the BBBs p-roject Godspeed to transform banana-farming for bigger gains.