An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

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IMPROVED BANANA CULTIVARS AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES 45
Table 4.3 Estimated quantities of planting material
(numbers of suckers) supplied to farmers during the
Kagera Community Development Programme
Year
Direct
diffusion
Indirect
diffusion
Total number
of suckers
1997 1,352 0 1,352
1998 2,330 2,684 5,014
1999 20,285 12,712 32,997
2000 101,420 78,706 180,126
2001 151,588 438,878 590,466
2002 150,333 390,797 541,130
Total 427,308 923,777 1,351,085
Source: KCDP (2002).
Table 4.4 Percentage of survey farmers obtaining
information about banana management practices,
by source of information
Information source
Percentage of farmers
Formal sources 61.26
Nongovernmental organizations 22.91
Government extension 42.76
Researchers 9.89
Other farmers 90.49
Mass media 25.70
Radio 24.03
Publications 2.83
Source: Katungi (2006).
Note: Percentages do not total 100 because farmers receive
information from more than one source.
farming system zones and acceptable to
specific communities or categories of households.
These include FHIA01, Yangambi
Km 5, Pelipita, SH3436-9, FHIA17, and
FHIA23. Further monitoring on their field
performance was recommended for these
cultivars, however. Other cultivars (for example,
FHIA02, FHIA03, Cardaba, Pisang
Berlin, Pisang Ceylon, and AACV Rose)
proved less appealing, because they were
not tolerant of local pests and diseases.
Further multiplication and dissemination of
these cultivars was not recommended (Nkuba,
Ndege, and Mkulila 2002).
KCDP involved nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), primary schools, district
departments of agriculture, and some individual
progressive farmers in the establishment
of nurseries and multiplication of superior
bananas. Because KCDP supplied
farmyard manure and paid laborers, multiplication
of these bananas was successful
and proceeded rapidly.
KCDP began to distribute planting material
of superior bananas to farmers by the end
of 1997 free of charge, later charging only
100 Tsh per sucker. Among the people of this
region, banana suckers are traditionally exchanged
free of charge, and thus, few farmers
were willing to pay for them. According
to the project report, an estimated 1 million
banana suckers had diffused among farmers
in Kagera Region by the year 2002 (Table
4.3). These high numbers were achieved
through direct (nursery-to-farmer) and indirect
(farmer-to-farmer) diffusion (Gallez et
al. 2002). In direct diffusion, farmers obtain
new planting materials from multiplication,
trials, or demonstrations. The numbers reported
in Table 4.3 do not reflect observed
transfers to or among farmers, but are estimated
numbers of suckers available for planting
based on a rate of two to three suckers per
mat planted in the previous year.
Dissemination of
Manage ment Practices
in Uganda
Three types of mechanisms have been used
in the dissemination of banana cultivars and
management practices recommended by
NARO (Tushemereirwe et al. 2003) in Ugandan
villages: (1) formal sources (the extension
services—government, NGOs, and onfarm
research), (2) other farmers, and (3)
mass media. Farmers surveyed by Katungi
(2006) were asked about their sources of information
for the practices they know about.
Responses are summarized in Table 4.4.