East Africa: Banana Blight Puts Livelihoods at Risk
by IBC ~ June 18th, 2009. Filed under: Biodiversity Threats.The bacterial banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease will endanger the livelihoods of millions of East African farmers if left uncontrolled, according to specialists. First reported about 40 years ago in Ethiopia, BXW is endemic in most of Uganda, and has been reported in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya and Rwanda.
“BXW is the most serious threat to banana production in East Africa,” Wafa Khoury, a plant pathologist and agricultural officer in the Plant Production and Protection Division of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told IRIN. “BXW is very serious because it could wipe out all cultivars planted in the continent, with almost no resistance detected…
“The plants wilt and eventually die. They either do not produce fruits, and when they do, they are hard and inedible to either humans or animals and they cannot be processed even,” Khoury said.
Bananas and plantains are the world’s fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat, and maize.
BXW symptoms include premature ripening of fruits, pale yellow ooze from cut surfaces, wilting of bracts and male buds, and progressive yellowing leading to complete wilting. Plants generally show symptoms within three weeks of infection.
Fields infested with the bacteria cannot be replanted with banana for at least six months due to carry-over of soil-borne inoculum, according to a report titled Xanthomonas wilt, a threat to banana production in East and Central Africa, by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Once BXW occurs in a field, there is no remedy other than to cut down all infected plants, completely dig out the rhizomes, and place the field under at least a six-month fallow period or a prolonged crop-rotation regime.
“… If uncontrolled, BXW would spread at a rate of 8 percent per annum in cooking banana plantations, causing an estimated production loss of about 53 percent over a 10-year period,” stated the report.
BXW has devastated plantations in the central, western and southern regions of Uganda, Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, head of banana research at Uganda’s National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), told IRIN.
At least 50 percent of plantations in the affected districts have been wiped out, threatening the food security of up to 14 million people, according to NARO. Uganda is the world’s second-largest banana producer after India.
In 2005, Uganda produced 650,000 metric tonnes of bananas; however, output is estimated to have dropped to about 400,000MT in 2008, according to the agriculture ministry. East Africa is the largest banana-producing and consuming region in Africa.
NARO predicts land under banana cultivation could drop another 20 percent in 2010 without adequate funding for disease control.
The potential economic impact of BXW is high. “Based on estimates of the Ugandan government, BXW caused yield losses of up to US$75 million in 2006 with a projected overall economic loss of $2-$8 billion in the next 10 years,” said FAO’s Khoury. However, no other impact studies have been done.
The bacterial banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease will endanger the livelihoods of millions of East African farmers if left uncontrolled, according to specialists. First reported about 40 years ago in Ethiopia, BXW is endemic in most of Uganda, and has been reported in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya and Rwanda.
“BXW is the most serious threat to banana production in East Africa,” Wafa Khoury, a plant pathologist and agricultural officer in the Plant Production and Protection Division of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told IRIN. “BXW is very serious because it could wipe out all cultivars planted in the continent, with almost no resistance detected…
“The plants wilt and eventually die. They either do not produce fruits, and when they do, they are hard and inedible to either humans or animals and they cannot be processed even,” Khoury said.
Bananas and plantains are the world’s fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat, and maize.
BXW symptoms include premature ripening of fruits, pale yellow ooze from cut surfaces, wilting of bracts and male buds, and progressive yellowing leading to complete wilting. Plants generally show symptoms within three weeks of infection.
Fields infested with the bacteria cannot be replanted with banana for at least six months due to carry-over of soil-borne inoculum, according to a report titled Xanthomonas wilt, a threat to banana production in East and Central Africa, by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Once BXW occurs in a field, there is no remedy other than to cut down all infected plants, completely dig out the rhizomes, and place the field under at least a six-month fallow period or a prolonged crop-rotation regime.
“… If uncontrolled, BXW would spread at a rate of 8 percent per annum in cooking banana plantations, causing an estimated production loss of about 53 percent over a 10-year period,” stated the report.
BXW has devastated plantations in the central, western and southern regions of Uganda, Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, head of banana research at Uganda’s National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), told IRIN.
At least 50 percent of plantations in the affected districts have been wiped out, threatening the food security of up to 14 million people, according to NARO. Uganda is the world’s second-largest banana producer after India.
In 2005, Uganda produced 650,000 metric tonnes of bananas; however, output is estimated to have dropped to about 400,000MT in 2008, according to the agriculture ministry. East Africa is the largest banana-producing and consuming region in Africa.
NARO predicts land under banana cultivation could drop another 20 percent in 2010 without adequate funding for disease control.
The potential economic impact of BXW is high. “Based on estimates of the Ugandan government, BXW caused yield losses of up to US$75 million in 2006 with a projected overall economic loss of $2-$8 billion in the next 10 years,” said FAO’s Khoury. However, no other impact studies have been done.
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