Article

War on wilt

IITA, iNew

A form of bacterial wilt which withers healthy banana plants and prematurely ripens fruits into a smelly goo is destroying crops and livelihoods as it moves across Uganda. But a newly formed taskforce including researchers from IITA is working to halt the spread of this disease.

The first signs of banana wilt disease were identified in central Uganda in 2001, and it has since been spreading rapidly. It takes only a few weeks for the bacteria to wipe out entire fields of growth.

"The effects of the disease are devastating," says IITA scientist Dr Ranajit Bandyopadhyay. "Growers haven't just lost their plants, they've lost their dreams. One woman I met was saving the money she earned from bananas to send her grandchild to school, but now her plants are gone."

The situation is the same for many who depend on banana for both food and income. So when growers are told that the only solution is to destroy infected plants, they are understandably resistant. But right now, there is no other surefire way to halt the spread of the disease.

Without action, the disease could spread into the major banana growing regions in the southwest and beyond Uganda's borders. A task force headed by the Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) is taking steps to prevent this.

The bacteria destroys the banana stem from the inside.

"Our initial work with a public awareness and plant eradication campaign has paid off," says Dr. W. Tushemereirwe, head of NARO's banana program and secretary for the task force. "What we need now are disease control and prevention strategies which minimize the negative impact on farmers."

The task force has developed an action plan that requires nearly US$9 million. It is already funded in part by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation of the UK, DANIDA (Denmark), and USAID. As part of the team, IITA will help provide the scientific expertise needed to find solutions.

IITA scientists will be studying mechanisms of disease transmission and will be developing resistant banana varieties using new tools. They will also investigate the effectiveness of alternate methods of disease management, including protecting the bunch against insects which spread the bacterium, and removing the male bud to halt the spread of infection. - IITA, INEW

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Article courtesy of i.New, International institute of tropical agriculture (IITA).

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