A team of researchers
from around the world are this week, 2– 5 May 2016, gathered at the
Nelson Mandela Africa Institution of Science Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha,
Tanzania, to discuss how to focus their combined expertise on improving banana,
a hugely important crop in the East African Region.
The researchers—drawn
from Australia, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Tanzania, Uganda, Sweden, Belgium,
South Africa, and USA—are implementing a five-year project that seeks to
improve the production and productivity of banana in Tanzania and Uganda.
Worldwide, very few programs focus on banana breeding and this meeting brings
together researchers from many of these programs.
The project aims to
strengthen the banana breeding programs in Uganda and Tanzania to dramatically
upscale and speed up on-going efforts to develop new high-yielding and
disease-resistant hybrid varieties. It focuses on the two most popular cooking
bananas in the region—East Africa Highland banana (EAHB) also known as ‘Matooke,’
and ‘Mchare’ grown in Tanzania.
Millions of
smallholder farmers in Tanzania and Uganda rely on banana as a staple food and
major source of income. The two countries produce over half of all banana grown
in Africa with the region's yearly crop valued at $4.3 billion. However, the
crop only achieves around 9% of its potential yield due to pests and diseases,
posing a serious threat to the future sustainability of banana production in
the region.
“The team will
develop hybrid varieties with a 30% higher yield and a 50% higher resistance to
at least three of the major pests and diseases compared to the current
varieties grown by farmers under the same on-farm conditions. The new varieties
will also meet almost all the quality traits preferred by consumers in the
current varieties, says Danny Coyne, a Soil Health Specialist at the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (ITA) and the project manager.
The diseases are
Fusarium Wilt and Black Leaf Streak diseases, and pests include the burrowing
nematode and weevils.
“Banana is very
important in Tanzania but it is being heavily attacked by pests and diseases.
With this project, we will be able to build the capacity of our research team
to develop improved high-yielding hybrid varieties which our farmers need.
Furthermore, through this project, we will have a better and more vibrant
breeding system across East Africa that can respond to current and future
challenges of the crop, especially now in the face of climate change,” says
Prof Patrick Ndakidemi, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Planning, Finance and Administration
and the Project Coordinator at the NM-AIST.
The project will,
among others, provide training for postgraduate students and technical staff in
advanced breeding techniques and facilitate the exchange of genetic material
across countries and even continents.
The project is being
led by IITA in close cooperation with national partners in Tanzania and Uganda.
The regional breeding activities are being conducted at NM-AIST in Arusha,
Tanzania, in collaboration with agriculture research institutes (ARI) in the
banana-growing areas, and at the Uganda Banana Breeding Programme of the
National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) at Kawanda, and Sendusu in
Kampala.
Building on past
successes
Past breeding efforts
by NARO, Uganda, in collaboration with IITA successfully developed the first
ever hybrids of the East African Highland Banana that were named NARITA.
Currently there are 27 NARITAs, two of which were formally released as new
cultivars in 2010 by NARO and are so far being grown in 15% of the banana farms
in Uganda.
Under this project,
at least 20 of these 27 NARITAs will be tested and promoted across the region
for suitability and acceptance by farmers.
“It took the team 18
years to generate these hybrids, and although they represent a significant
progression from the current varieties they remain suboptimal in several
respects including height, pest and disease resistance, and fruit quality
traits. Our new project will build on this success and take banana breeding to
the next level,” says Prof Rony Swennen, Head of the IITA Banana Breeding
program and the Project Team Leader.
The project will
conduct studies to understand the genetic make-up and diversity of existing
varieties to identify sources of resistance to the major pests and diseases.
This will be complemented by research to understand the spread and damage
caused by these pests and diseases, and development and application of quick
diagnostic tools and faster screening mechanisms to assess resistance.
This project will
also facilitate the exchange of genetic material with breeding programs in
Brazil and India, therefore establishing the foundations of a globally
connected Musa breeding system. The exchange will provide this project with
access to improved diploid hybrids for crossing with ‘Matooke’ and ‘Mchare’
germplasm.
This project is being conducted within the
framework of the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB).
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