An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

THE BANANA ECONOMY IN THE LAKE VICTORIA REGIONS 27
Figure 3.1 General classification of banana cultivars, genomic groups, and uses
BANANA CULTIVARS
Endemic Cultivars
Nonendemic Cultivars
Matooke Mbidde Exotics Hybrids
AAA-EA AAB AAA
AB
ABB
AB
AAAB
AAAA
Cook Beer Roast Sweet Beer Multiuse
BANANA USES
Source: Edmeades (2003).
Note: The genome group for Sukali Ndiizi, a small sweet banana, has been revised from AB to AAB.
Areas of Production
An estimated 61 percent of the Ugandan
banana crop is produced in the Western
Region, 30 percent is produced in the Central
Region, and the remainder in the Eastern
Re gion (UBOS 2003). Most banana
production takes place on small subsistence
farms of less than 0.5 ha using farming
methods with low levels of external
inputs (Gold et al. 1998).
In Tanzania, major zones of production
are located in the highlands of Kagera and
Mara regions in the Lake Zone, followed
by Kilimanjaro, Arusha, and Tanga in the
Northern Zone; Mbeya, Ruvuma, and
Iringa in the Southern Highlands Zone;
Coast and Morogoro in the Eastern Zone;
and Zanzibar Islands. The Lake Zone has
the highest banana production, followed by
the Northern Zone. In 1997/98 and 1998/99,
the Lake Zone produced about 45 percent
and 43 percent of the total banana production
in the country, respectively (MAC
2000).
Production Constraints
The life span of banana groves ranges from
as low as 4 years in central Uganda to several
decades. Speijer, Kajumba, and Tushemereirwe
(1999) reported plantations as
old as 30 years in western Uganda, and
higher ages have been reported anecdotally.
Until the past few decades, banana was considered
a highly sustainable crop in Uganda,
with long plantation life and stable yields.
During the past 30 years, banana production
patterns have been changing. Acreage has
increased or remained stable in most of the
Western Region, while declining in the
Central and Eastern regions (Gold et al.
1998). This shift has been attributed to the
increasing severity of production constraints.
In particular, declining soil fertility, pests,
and diseases severely reduced production in
some areas.
Included among the most widespread
biotic problems are weevils; black Sigatoka
disease; Panama disease or Fusarium wilt;
and banana bacteria wilt, which causes yield
losses as high as 80 percent. Nematodes are
a major problem in some areas. Different
levels of susceptibility among cultivars have
been observed. Weevils are insects that attack
all types of banana cul tivars, although
the intensity of weevil damage has been
found to decrease with elevation (Gold et al.
1994). Black Sigatoka is an airborne fungal