An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

42 CHAPTER 4
Research Introductions of
Improved Material
In Uganda, variable response was observed
but no useful levels of resistance to weevils,
nematodes, and black Sigatoka were reported
in endemic materials. As a consequence,
nonendemic cultivars that appeared
to be resistant were added to the collection.
Nonendemic germplasm was acquired
mainly via the INIBAP Transit Centre, imported
as in vitro plantlets. The plants were
evaluated at two stages: (1) on-station and/
or selected sites, where the evaluation trials
were research controlled, and (2) on-farm
multilocational sites, where the evaluation
trials were farmers managed with backstopping
from extension workers and researchers.
The introduced germplasm was planted
along with elite cultivars selected from endemic
germplasm, which served as checks.
At all stages, the germplasm was evaluated
for pest and disease response, agronomic
performance, and bunch use. Currently,
multilocational, on-farm evaluation trials
are running in 20 districts of Uganda.
In 1994 and 1999, ARDI received new
banana cultivars provided by IPGRI and initiated
on-station testing. The cultivars tested
included AACV Rose, Cardaba, FHIA01,
FHIA02, FHIA03, FHIA17, FHIA23, IC2,
Pelipita, Pisang Berlin, Pisang Ceylon, Pisang
Sipuru, Saba, SH3436-9, and Yangambi
Km 5. The new banana cultivars
were thought to have high yield potential
and tolerance for one or several combinations
of the major banana production
constraints.
Multiplication and
Dissemination of Planting
Material in Uganda
Plant tissue culture was started in Uganda in
1991 by the Banana Based Cropping Systems
Research Project in the Department of
Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Makerere
University, with funding from the
Rockefeller Foundation. The first objective
was to mass-produce pest- and disease-free
planting material as one of the activities to
revive banana production in the country.
The tissue culture laboratory was constructed
at KARI under the Farming Systems
Support Project with funding from the
E.U. The laboratory that became operational
in 1993 was set up to carry out coffee
micropropagation on a commercial scale.
When activities related to coffee did not use
the laboratory to full capacity, research programs
working on bananas, potatoes, passion
fruits, and vanilla also began to use it.
In 1995, banana tissue culture was initiated
by the National Banana Research Programme
in collaboration with IITA, with
the objectives of multiplying (1) diseasefree
planting materials for research purposes,
(2) introduced materials for field
evaluation and dissemination, (3) elite cultivars
for farmers (mother gardens and direct
distribution), and (4) hybrids from international
breeding programs (FHIA, IITA).
Another objective is in vitro short-term conservation
of cultivars and hybrids through
periodical subculturing. The laboratories at
Kawanda and Makerere University proved
unable to provide all the planting materials
required by farmers, leading to the construction
of the commercial tissue culture
laboratory, Agro-genetic Technologies Limited
(AGT), in 2002.
Once banana cultivars have passed
through on-station or selected-site evaluations,
those that perform best with respect to
pest and disease response, agronomic characteristics,
and end use are selected for
multiplication and dissemination. Initial
materials from research reach farmers as
tissue-culture plantlets. Farmers pass the
materials to other farmers in the form of
suckers.
The dissemination of farmer-approved
planting material involves both the research
institute and farmers. At the farm level,
various dissemination systems have been
reported (Nowakunda et al. 2002). In addition
to the informal farmer-to-farmer germplasm
exchange discussed above, other
farmer distribution systems for banana