Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

AATF Annual Report 2012
31
trial through the support of the United States Agency for International
Development’s Agricultural Biotechnology Support Programme (USAID-
ABSPII) in 2013 once approval to conduct the second trial is granted by
the National Biosafety Committee of Uganda. In addition, work started
in Kenya to generate transgenic events for banana varieties important for
the Kenyan market. These will be tested in a CFT in 2014.
Bananas are among the most important food crops after maize, rice,
wheat and cassava. East Africa produces and consumes the most bananas
in Africa, with Uganda being the world’s second largest producer after
India. Banana farmers especially in Uganda are currently battling with the
anguish of watching their fruit ripen prematurely, seeing their leaves wilt
and then witness the inevitable death of the entire plant. The BXW caused
by the pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Xcm), costs banana
farmers millions of dollars in damages every year across East and Central
Africa. The pathogen infects all
varieties, including East African
Highland Banana (EAHB) and
the exotic types. The rapid spread
of the disease has endangered the
livelihoods of millions of farmers
who rely on banana for staple food
and cash.
Farmers are currently trying
to control the disease by cutting
down and disposing infected
16.4 million tonnes
average bananas produced annually
in East Africa – about 20 percent of
world output
50 million
number of smallholder farmers in
East Africa who depend on banana for
food and income
Project partners visit the Bacterial Wilt-Resistant banana confined field trial in Kawanda, Uganda in
July 2012
Deploying agricultural technologies for farmers