Burundi: Simple Technology Supports Farmers to Revive Banana Production

By NewsfromAfrica

BUJUMBURA---Beatrice Bukuru, 50 from Kassa village in Muyinga commune, Burundi is a happy woman. She wasn't so happy three years ago. A deadly strange disease was ravaging her banana, threatening her ability to earn a living and feed her family.  Today through the crop, she even has two goats. 

 So what changed in three years?  Well, she joined a farmers group called Tugurukire Kitoki, meaning to rehabilitate banana in the local language that has transformed the farming of this important food and staple crop in the region. 

 The group is doing well in banana farming thanks to new improved banana varieties and a new technology of getting disease-free planting material rapidly known as macro-propagation.  

 Usually, Beatrice and other small-holder banana farmers plant suckers, - the little banana plantlets growing at the side of the mother plant - from their own existing banana or from a neighbor. It's not only a slow method, as a plant can only produce about four to five suckers in a year,  but it also transfers pests and diseases from one farm to another.

 However, with macro-propagation, a healthy sucker is cut into small pieces which are carefully planted in a nursery and when they are big enough, they are transferred to potted bags for acclimatization before planting them in the farms. One sucker if well prepared can produce up to 50 plantlets in three months.

 The training on macro-propagation and on improved methods of growing banana were conducted by  a team from the  International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) working under an umbrella initiative that brings together many development partners to support the agricultural sector by the name Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA).  

 They were part of effort to control the spread of diseases and pest and in particular, the banana wilt and banana bunchy top disease which are spreading rapidly and destroying banana in the great Lakes region. All banana varieties are susceptible to the two diseases hence the need for concerted efforts by all.

Scientists at IITA have also been screening different banana varieties to identify those that can perform well under the local conditions and also meet farmers' preferences.  One such variety is the FHIA variety from and named after the Honduran Agricultural Research Foundation which is Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola (FHIA) in Spanish.

 Tugurakire Kitoki group has a collective farm where they are growing the new FHIA varieties and other local varieties. With macro-propagation, they are able to plant all the banana at the same time and when they are ready for harvesting, they call the buyers who come with lorries to collect. 

 The group has opened a collective bank account to save the money from the sale of banana from their collective farm. They use it to pay school feeds for children, buy medicine and cater for other emergencies. The group has also been buying goats for the members to diversify their income and recently Beatrice got two.

 The group is supporting other farmers in other parts of the country to embrace this new technology. One such group is Collectif des associations de development dans la commune Kibage (CADRE),  which is an association of 29 farmers. According to their vice president, Kanyakiro Felix, they have also started banana macro-propagation and so far they have four nurseries, multiplying 120 banana suckers of the FHIA variety. The group wants to increase to 6000 suckers and each group in the association to establish their own nursery.

 Kanyakiro says with this technology and the training received on how to properly grow banana such as mulching and spacing, their banana production is starting to recover. "We did not have banana. They were destroyed by the disease. We are slowly recovering. And we now even want to go into juice processing."

 According to Emmanuel Njukwe the partnership associate scientist with IITA banana is a key staple in Burundi for food and income the diseases were therefore a big threat to the already food insecure country which has a high population density. The diseases are spread by infected planting material, use of infected farming equipment, browsing animals and insects in search for nectar.

 One way of getting disease free planting material is the use of tissue culture. However, according to Emmanuel, the farmers did not like the tissue culture bananas much which are small, delicate and require a lot of care. So they turned to macro-propagation and are working with Non-Governmental Organizations and farmers’ groups to set up the ‘mother gardens’ to supply farmers with healthy planting material.

Njukwe says the technology and approach can be easily replicated in many parts of Africa where the two diseases are spreading rapidly.