Chronica Horticulturae volume 49 number 2 ... - Acta Horticulturae

Lusike Wasilwa, Director of Horticultural
Crops at KARI, addressing the crowd.
income for millions of smallholder farmers.
Depending on the variety, they can be cooked,
fried, brewed into alcohol or eaten fresh.
However, African banana production, often carried
out in smallholder farms, is badly managed
and inadequately marketed. As such, its vast
potential as a value-added commercial crop is
not realized, decreasing farmers’ chances to
generate income. Increasingly, bananas are also
being targeted for commercialization not only
within Africa, but also for lucrative and emerging
markets such as the Middle East and
Europe, where dessert bananas are hugely popular
as fruits. Currently, however, only 4% of
internationally traded bananas originate from
Africa, illustrating a huge gap but also a potential
for Africa to increase commercial trade in
bananas. Although banana is of critical importance
for the African continent, surprisingly,
this agricultural commodity has not received
the attention it deserves.
By inviting all stakeholders across the banana
value chain and by using a unique agenda, this
conference was ‘not business as usual’, as
scientific conferences go. This conference
bridged the gap between research, and markets
and trade. Linkages, and in particular the
A farmer group from Kenya explains their
activities to delegates.
importance of public-private sector partnerships,
were a high priority, and reflected in the
vast spectrum of stakeholders attending, often
from non-scientific backgrounds. Besides a program
of over 100 invigorating talks, the conference
boosted a parallel 900 m 2 exhibition area,
with more than 45 exhibition booths from 14
countries, including from the commercial sector,
farmers, international organizations,
national programs, NGOs, governmental
organizations and donors. The 4-day program
was organized in order that each day represented
a clear theme: a) markets and trade, b) production,
and c) innovation systems. More
importantly, the conference culminated in a
final “strategy day”, which built on the input
provided by participants from each of the
themes. The “strategy day” started with a distilled
summary from the previous three days’
presentations to stimulate thought as to the
future direction, and subsequently proceeded
into a workshop-styled format, with guidance
from two professional facilitators, to elicit information
from the participants gathered from the
previous three days.
Overall attendance numbered 400 participants
from all sectors of the banana value chain and
from across the globe. A large number of attendees
represented farmers, farmer groups,
entrepreneurs and representatives from national
programs, and attended as a consequence of
financial support from one of several donors. A
total of 21 organizations, companies and
donors contributed to this event, including the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
ACP-EU (CTA), and the Directorate
General for Development Cooperation (DGDC,
Belgium).
The importance of the conference was highlighted
by attendance of Honorable Janet
Mukwaya, Minister of Tourism, Trade and
Industry, Uganda, who delivered the opening
address on behalf of President Yoweri Musiveni;
Anna Tibaijuka, Director-General of UN-HABI-
TAT and Undersecretary-General of the UN; and
Honorable Agnes Abera Kalibata, State Minister
for Agriculture, Rwanda. Publicity before, during
and after the conference was extensive,
partly because of a unique journalist workshop,
organized by WRENmedia, which used this
event to showcase the importance of banana.
During the conference, it became clear that,
with diminished access to European markets,
the future of banana in Africa lies in strengthening
local and regional markets and market
linkages that can feed the increasing urban
populations, as well as taking advantage of
value addition through processing. On the
trade front, there was discussion of how insufficient
credit, inadequate transportation, unfair
taxes and inconsistent prices are significantly
stifling what could be a vibrant and, for farmers,
highly profitable regional banana trade. For
banana, the big problem is perishability: smallscale
farmers could use post-harvest processing
Honorable Gideon Ndambuki, Assistant
Minister of Agriculture of Kenya, plants a
banana tree at the opening ceremony.
Touring of the exhibition stands. From left
to right: Honorable Janet Mukwaya,
Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry,
Uganda, on behalf of President Yoweri
Musiveni; Dr. Thomas Dubois, Conference
Chair; Honorable Gideon Ndambuki,
Assistant Minister of Agriculture of Kenya.
to develop products that could be stored for
longer periods, particularly during times of seasonal
glut, when prices are low. For example, in
Africa, products made from bananas and
banana plants include beer, wine, juice, sauce,
mats, handbags, envelopes, postcards, flour,
soup and breakfast cereals. While developing
local and regional markets is crucial, there was
also agreement that efforts to improve incomes
should not occur at the expense of food
security.
CONTACT
Thomas Dubois
Dr. Thomas Dubois, Chair Organizing
Committee, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, Phone: +256 (0)414285060/4, Fax:
+256 (0)414285079, email: t.dubois@cgiar.org
ISHS • 32