Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Afrique / Africa : C.S. Gold et al.
Table 3. Banana cultivar distribution at Uganda diagnostic survey sites, 1993-1994 (24
sites, five farms per site).
A. County-wide
Group Type Sites Farms Proportion (%)
AAA-EA Highland cooking 24 120 76
AAA Gros Michel 24 75 2
AAB Plantain 20 51 2
AB Ndizi, Kisubi 24 110 12
ABB Kayinja, Bluggoe 22 80 8
B. Regions
Group 1 2
Regions (%)
3 4 5
AAA-EA 73 75 59 70 90
AAA 5 4 3 5 4
AAB 1 3 4 3 0
AB 14 10 16 13 4
ABB 7 8 18 9 2
Regions: 1 South West, 2 Central South, 3 Central North, 4 Central, 5 East.
The popularity of Ndiizi was, in part attributed to its increasing local and export (e.g.
to Kenya) market importance. It is characterised by a small compact bunch, short
fingers with a very sweet apple flavoured fruit when ripe. These factors make Ndizii
highly desirable in both local and distant markets. It also produces excellent juice and,
therefore, can be used in waragi production (a local gin produced from distilling banana
juice and sorghum). In the south-west, farmers in Kabale reported high market demand
for Ndiizi, which was sold to schoolchildren and to local markets. In more remote sites
like Kabarole, Ndiizi was increasingly used in waragi production. In the east, farmers in
Mbale and Kapchorwa sold to nearby Kenya markets.
Selection criteria
Farmers identified nine primary cultivar selection criteria used in determining which
Musa cultivars they grow: (1) availability of adequate planting material; (2) length of
crop cycle (maturation); (3) cultivar longevity; (4-6) stress tolerances (i.e. marginal
soils, drought, pests); (7) taste (cultivars used for home consumption); and (8-9) market
factors (bunch size, and marketability) (Table 5a). There was wide variability in farmer
perceptions on the importance of the different criteria. For example, although all 120
interviewed farmers regarded bunch size as an important criterion, only 72 ranked it as
one of the top three criteria. Farmer rankings also suggested cultivar longevity,
marketability and tolerance of marginal soils as key criteria (Table 5a).
On a countrywide basis, bunch size was clearly the most important selection criterion
(Table 5b). Bunch size was considered the most important factor in three of the five
regions. In the central-north region, it ranked third behind tolerance of marginal soils
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