CONSTRAINT BBTD devastates banana production

TECHNOLOGY TO RECOVER BANANADue to unavailability of resistant cultivars, the multidisciplinarycurative and preventive approaches have been used atcommunity scale to recover and enhance banana production instages (Figs 2 & 4).

Community Mobilization: Baseline on cropping systems andgender roles, sucker flows, awareness and advocacy andstrategies for clean planting material and mat eradication

Eradication and Replanting: Establishment of disease-freenurseries for healthy planting material, coupled with diseaseexclusion using banana free-fallow period and aphid control toprevent reinfection.

Development and deployment of improved survey anddiagnostic tools: Used for mapping BBTD spread, certificationof planting material and monitoring reinfections.

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Block 2 Poster 6

Recovering Banana Production from Bunchy

Top Disease in sub-Saharan Africa

Poster authors: Lava Kumar, Charles Staver, M.L. Iskra-Caruana, B.A. Omondi, R. Hanna, L. Nkengla, S. Ajambo, A. Rietveld, M. Soko, C. Niyongere, T. Oviasuyi, S. Ngatat, B. Ndemba, D. Ogunfunmilayo, P. Mobambo, B. Dheda, M. Tachin, S. Akinyemi, M. Andeime, A. Mvila, S. Sagnia, and R. Swennen

SCALING STRATEGYPartnerships and Pilot Site approachMultistakeholder, RTB-led international partnership, BBTVALLIANCE, formed to implement banana recover strategy (Figs2 & 4) in eight pilot sites in Africa since 2014 (Fig 3).

Banana bunchy top disease

BBTD

Bunch at the top

Bunchy top

“Production declined from truck load to cycle load”

BBTV

Fig 1. Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) drastically reduced production (70 to 100%) within two seasons. Banana aphid transmits the causal virus, BBTV.

Opportunities and constraints

to banana recovery

Replanting with healthy

banana

Gender and social analysis

Alternative cropsTargeted campaign

Eradication of infected mats & exclusion zone

Spatial BBTD distribution map

Monitoring for vectors

and reinfection

Sensitization about disease

Task force for BBTD control

Gender framework

Decentralized disease-free nurseries

Micro / macro propagation

Survey methods

Community Mobilization Eradication and Replanting

Virus-free planting material

Mapping disease spared

Recovery strategy

Diagnostics tools

Banana-free fallow

Herbicide use/ Manual

Advocacy to policy makers and

regulators

Fig 2. Main stages in banana production recovery

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Fig 4. Typical pilot site (Nkhatabay, Malawi): Community engagement by theRTB gender team Mapping and eradication of infected mattsMultiplication of virus-free plants replanting after fallow period

monitoring replanted fields.

CRITICAL GAPS AND NEXT STEPS Low awareness on BBTD threat to banana. Weak

commitment to exclusion and containment to reduce. Role of

suckers in replanted fields.

KEY PARTNERS FOR SCALINGNew scaling projects are being built on ‘ALLIANCE’ strategy

and partnerships. To date, new funding grants realized from

RTB (BA3.4), BMGF (Benin and Nigeria), MINADER (Cameroon)

and FAO (Central Africa Plant Protection Office). NARES, private

sector and youth groups will involve in scaling technologies.

Eradication of mats to establish banana-free period and buffer

Replant fields with clean planting material in banana-free zone

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BENEFICIARIESSmallholder farmers mobilize knowledge and practices to

recover and maintain banana production in spite of BBTD with

lower cost and lower risk to healthy seed supply. Researchers

and extensionists manage BBTD more effectively with advance

science technologies. Income generating opportunities to

women and youth from planting material business. Better

plant quarantine policies to limit the spread of BBTV