Banana is the main staple food and cash crop for more than 25 million smallholder farmers, with an annual production worth US$ 1.5 billion, based on the five-year average price for banana of Shs 700 per kilogram (FEWS, 2021) and the average annual production of 7.6 million tonnes (UBOS 2018 - 2021). This is a significant contribution to Uganda’s agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$ 8.9 Billion (World Bank 2020). Then, U$ 3.5 million of banana was exported (UBOS 2021), yet the banana crop has great unexploited industrial potential to develop high value products for both the domestic and export markets.

Below are some of the reasons to consider banana farming:

• Banana is a food crop and thus ensures food security in a home.
• Banana farming ensures constant income flow to an individual or farmer because of its perennial nature.
• Banana production in Uganda contributes significantly to the national income in terms of export earnings. USD$ 3.5 million of banana were exported according to UBOS (2021) and yet, the banana crop still has great unexploited industrial potential to develop high value products for both the domestic and export markets.
• Banana farming provides employment to many Ugandans.
• Banana farming cab be done on both small and large scale production favouring all categories of households.

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NARO scientists from the National Banana Research Program led by Dr. Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, the Director of National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL) Kawanda, celebrated with Tanzanian officials on the release of Ugandan-bred improved Matooke bananas in Tanzania.

NARO scientists with Tanzanian officials pose with the released banana tissue culture plantlets.

This was during the Accelerated Breeding of Better Bananas annual meeting held from 23 - 25 May, 2022 in ARUSHA, Tanzania at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science & Technology.

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Growing bananas in Uganda is fast becoming a profitable venture because bananas provide food for homes and serve commercial purposes as well.

Apart from bananas providing food, by-products such as fiber for hair extensions, fiber for the crafts industry, banana wine, among others, also provide additional income.

However, the crop that is consumed across the country is being threatened by the Banana Bacterial Wilt (BBW) disease. It was first reported in the country in 2005, in Kyazanga in Masaka region, where it caused almost 100% yield loss. It later spread to different parts of the country.

Dr Stephen Bua in a newly-established banana plantation free

How it is spread

Dr Stephen Buah, a researcher on the banana programme at the National Agriculture Research Laboratories in Kawanda, says the BBW disease is spread through sharing of farm tools such as knives, pangas and hoes.

It is also spread through pollinating insects such as bees, butter flies, plus monkeys of late. The monkeys tend to eat the male bud of a banana plant, in the process scratch and injure the plant. Scratches pave way for the disease to enter a disease free plant.

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In an interview with Nature.com, geneticist Priver Namanya Bwesigye, also head of the National Banana Research Program reveals how she has used her knowledge in genetic modification (GM) techniques, to train NARO scientists trying to improve the banana’s nutritional value and hardiness.

Priver Namanya Bwesigye (centre) trains biotechnology students at NARO Uganda. (Credit: NARO communications)

Geneticist Priver Namanya Bwesigye is head of the National Banana Program at the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), an agency of Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. She joined the organization, based in Entebbe, in 1994 as a research assistant. In 2010, she earned a PhD in biotechnology from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, through a programme called Banana21, a collaboration between QUT and NARO. Sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, the programme seeks to increase the micronutrients in Uganda’s staple food, the East Africa Highland banana. While at QUT, Namanya learnt genetic modification (GM) techniques, which she has used to train NARO scientists trying to improve the banana’s nutritional value and hardiness.

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