East Africa: Banana Wilt Poses Food Security Threat
8 September 2009 Following a regional drought that has already hurt production, banana wilt disease is currently posing a threat to food security in East Africa, according to allAfrica.com. The disease has been reported in 46 districts in Uganda in 40% of the country’s plantations. It has also been reported in other East African countries such as Rwanda, western Kenya and Bukoba in north-western Tanzania.
According to crop protection experts, the disease could wipe out banana plantations if left uncontrolled, causing a loss of about US$4 million annually. As well as affecting the income of thousands of people in the region, it could also pose a threat to the livelihoods of East Africans who depend on it as a source of food. In most areas in Uganda, bananas are staple food crops and so is the case in Tanzania while elsewhere, bananas are eaten as fruit.
In Bushenyi, one of the most affected districts in western Uganda, 150 families are said to have lost their plantations. In the Masaka district of central Uganda, production is estimated to have reduced by 40%.
There are no varieties resistant to the disease, and farmers are containing the disease through simple practices like sterilizing pruning tools with fire and removing the male buds after the banana fingers have formed to stop the spread of the disease.
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