Banana bunch. Photo by IITA

A high-level international effort is needed to save African banana and plantain, currently under threat from two deadly diseases— banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) and banana bunchy top (BBTD).

Xanthomonas wilt started in Uganda and is spreading to neighboring countries in eastern Africa. Meanwhile, the banana bunchy top disease is creeping across southern and central Africa. Currently, all bananas are susceptible to the two diseases.

If these diseases are not checked, they will affect the food security and livelihoods of 30 million farmers in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), who cultivate banana and plantain in 4.5 million ha. They can spread to neighboring countries and further worsen the regional situation.

Looming crisis
BBTD is characterized by stunted growth and leaves in tight whorls sprouting from the top of the plant. It is present in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. The disease is transmitted by aphids, and once established, it spreads rapidly and is almost impossible to eradicate.

Banana bacterial wilt disease was first identified in Ethiopia and is now ravaging production in the Great Lakes Region of DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Both diseases can rapidly kill banana plants and eliminate production, causing losses worth hundreds of millions of US dollars each year. At the moment, no disease-resistant varieties are available, and pesticides for controlling insect vectors are ineffective against disease spread.

BBTV (orange)- and BXW (green)-affected countries in Africa. Yellow indicates countries with both diseases

For both diseases, the only way to prevent further spread in the field is to uproot, chop, and sun-dry infected plants, and to replace them with clean planting material.

Experts respond to crisis
Due to increasing concerns about the two diseases, the international community came together in a meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania, in August this year. Experts from 15 banana and plantain-growing countries in SSA (Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) and also from Australia, India, and United Kingdom evaluated the current status and scientific knowledge on BBTD and BXW.

The meeting was convened by the Southern Africa Development Cooperation (SADC), with support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IITA, and Bioversity International.

Participants recognized the need to plan strategies to manage the diseases in countries where they are already established and to prevent spread to those that are not yet affected. A recently issued joint statement said that “urgent action by national research organizations and governments in SSA, international research organizations, and development partners is necessary to avert or reduce the impact of the looming crisis.”

Framework for disease management
Building on ongoing regional efforts, FAO, IITA, and Bioversity International will work with relevant regional organizations, such as SADC and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Southern Africa, to develop a banana disease management framework for SSA.

The framework aims to support effective networking and coordination for information gathering and sharing, and to identify national needs and gaps in funding. It will support efforts to increase awareness and raise funds so that disease eradication and management activities contribute to a common goal.

The participants further called on relevant research and development organizations, partners, and national authorities to affirm their commitment to collaborate on regional responses to banana diseases, ensure coordination of activities and optimal use of resources to provide technical advice, develop sustainable new technologies, and deploy eradication and management practices across SSA.

A concerted effort among various stakeholders would ensure the success of measures to eradicate or prevent these diseases from further ravaging the livelihoods of banana and plantain farmers in Africa.

A high-level meeting will be convened in early 2010 to endorse the framework and take steps towards putting it into effect.

Banana and plantain are important staples in East Africa.

Participants’ recommendations
• Urgently support active management and control programs in countries where production systems are already affected to mitigate the impact of the two diseases.
• Make arrangements to provide safe and sufficient replanting material to encourage farmers to destroy diseased plants so as to safeguard and sustain production.
• To prevent infection and further spread of these diseases, unaffected countries need to increase vigilance to take preemptive action to destroy infected plants as soon as they appear. Monitoring strategies and the capacity to recognize the diseases and to deploy rapid eradication responses are vital.
• Educate and advise farmers on the importance of these diseases and mobilize them to report and combat them at the first sign of appearance. Large-scale, community-level action will be needed, supported by local and national governments and subregional organizations.
• Allocate funds for the following measures in countries with banana and plantain production—whether at commercial or subsistence level:

- large-scale campaigns for disease awareness, surveillance, training of sufficient staff in sampling, field disease recognition, and laboratory diagnosis, and the production and distribution of clean planting material to respond to any disease outbreaks.
- community-level measures to support actions in response to the diseases, helping to ensure local adherence to recommended practices.
- reporting and communication systems to ensure an early and appropriate reaction once the diseases have been recognized at field level, and to monitor the success of eradication and management practices.
- improved arrangements for production of clean planting materials through training and facilities to improve the quality of materials, and to ensure that enough are made available to farmers.
- national contingency plans developed with the involvement of all concerned with banana disease management, including the creation or strengthening of national task forces to ensure country preparedness to implement disease eradication campaigns and monitor the impact of these efforts.
- other longer term programs to improve field practices for disease eradication (for countries where invasion is recent) and management (where diseases are already established); and also to include review, information sharing, and update of policy frameworks, such as plant health/quarantine legislation.

For more information, visit: http://www.bananadiseasesframework.org/