Scientists Move to Stop Banana Wilt
Scientists in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA have moved to stop the menance and damge currently by caused to banana crops by wilt.
Following an alert from Uganda that Farmers have suffered huge losses, as their fields were destroyed by banana wilt disease, a team of IITA specialist were commissioned to tackle and bring an end to the problem.
"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 and this newly formed taskforce including researchers from IITA are working to halt the spread of this disease and reverse the present trend," the institute stated.
According to a statement by IITA, 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._
IITA said that the situation was the same for many who depended 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.
|
