The 'FHIA' good factor for Ugandan bananas

Leaning against a banana tree, Mr Livingstone Odoi, poses for a picture with several of his grandchildren. Both the tree and the children look healthy and Mr Odoi has every reason to be smiling because, surrounding his thriving banana plantation, some of his neighbours are not faring so well. Their banana plantations are dying and without 'food' for the household, the children are going hungry. But Mr Odoi not only has bananas for roasting and frying, but also sweet dessert varieties and bananas for producing juice. These varieties may not taste quite like the local matooke (highland banana), but Mr Odoi's message to his fellow farmers is that in order to survive, some changes have to be made.

The future of matooke?

Despite the importance of matooke as a staple food in Uganda - more than 12 million Ugandans in southern Uganda depend on the crop - banana productivity in the region has been in continuous decline for a number of years. In the past, banana was a highly sustainable crop with a long plantation life and stable yields. Indeed, in some areas, gardens of 50 to 100 years still exist. But with decreasing soil fertility and increasing incidence of pests and diseases, the frequency of replanting for most farmers in central Uganda is currently as short as 3 to 5 years. The future of the highland banana in Uganda looks bleak, particularly as a new bacterial wilt has spread rapidly (see 'Wilting under pressure'), compounding the problems already faced by farmers struggling to cope with Black Sigatoka disease, banana weevils and nematodes. However, in agreement with the researchers from the Ugandan National Banana Research Programme (NBRP), Mr Odoi is doubtful of reports in early 2003 (see Points of View 03-2), that the banana will be extinct in ten years. "By mulching, manuring and adopting new varieties, it is possible to have healthy trees, good yields and plenty of food for my family," he says.

Known as a pioneer farmer, Mr Odoi is one of a number of farmers from the central district of Luwero, who has been working with the National Banana Research Programme since 1997 to select improved banana material. To improve soil fertility, cow dung and grass are dug into the soil surrounding Mr Odoi's banana trees and old banana leaves are left as mulch. It takes some work, but the result is that large green fronds shade the plantation and banana bunches hang heavy with good-sized fingers. Although he continues to grow local varieties, which are also carefully mulched and manured, it is the varieties introduced by NBRP researchers that Mr Odoi is keen to share with his neighbours. Imported from Honduras, this 'FHIA' planting material is known locally as Kabana and several varieties are proving particularly popular. Kabana 3 (FHIA 17), for instance, is a multipurpose variety which can be roasted, fried, or eaten fresh. The bananas are more difficult to peel and take a little longer to cook, but the yields are so good that Mr Odoi's wife feels these differences are a small price to pay. Kabana 4 (FHIA 23) is a particularly good dessert variety, which is not good for cooking but can be used for eating and making juice; one bunch can produce up to 20 litres.

Flavour of the month?

With six children at secondary school, Mr Odoi generates enough income from his six-hectare plantation to pay for all their school fees. And several of his fellow farmers, who had given up on banana cultivation as traditional varieties were failing to thrive, have also begun to plant some of the new varieties and have been rewarded by their efforts. But banana breeding is a lengthy process and selecting new hybrids is not an easy task. To aid the distribution of planting material, farmers are encouraged to form groups and access free planting material from NARO's Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute for setting up mother gardens. For each plant received, a farmer is required to pass on at least one, if not two sucker plants to other farmers. With assistance from extension advisors and researchers, farmers from a cross-section of geographical areas are able to evaluate and provide feedback on the performance of new hybrids, assessing them against local constraints.

None of these new hybrids are exactly like matooke but neither are they so susceptible to the pests and diseases so prevalent in central Uganda. The taste is certainly different but, as a song from a women's group in Luwero district says, 'These people's taste for life is stronger', and they are grateful to the researchers for reviving what was becoming a forgotten enterprise.

The Ugandan National Banana Research Programme (NBRP) of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) is supported by the DFID Crop Protection Programme in the integrated management of banana diseases.