Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

190 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 1
An example of musa names providing clues for the history of peoples is provided by
the cultivar names used in the different dialects of Bekwil, respectively in south-eastern
Cameroon, north-eastern Gabon and north-western Congo. It appears that there are no
plantain names uniquely and commonly found in all Bekwil dialects. The names found in
the three dialects are either widespread in West-Central Africa, have been borrowed
from present-day neighbouring languages, or were recently coined in one of the dialects
only. The reason for this is that the Bekwil originally lived in a savannah area (in the
present-day Central African Republic), after which they moved into the rainforest (of
south-eastern Cameroon, northern Congo and north-eastern Gabon), where they adopted
the cultivation of plantain. Considering the origin and distribution of the Bekwil cultivar
names, especially those of the most important French Giant and Medium Green
cultivars, this must have taken place in the last couple of centuries only, a conclusion
which is consistent with other historical information.
Plantain expansion
The most conspicuous aspect of the expansion of plantain in Africa is the difference in
distribution and incidence/diversity between the eastern (scattered, low), central
(diffuse, high) and western (coastal, medium) parts of the continent. Furthermore, the
absence of False Horn cultivars in East Africa (apart from some relatively recent
introductions), similar to the situation in India but unlike that in Central and West
Africa and the New World, is noteworthy. This situation can be explained by the fact that
only the French and the Horn type of plantain were introduced to East Africa where, as
in India, plantain was never cultivated to such an extent as to give rise to a great
diversity. Taking into account the reversive nature of bunch type mutations, the False
Horn type of plantain must have come into being in an area where Horn plantains are
relatively numerous, for ecological and cultural reasons, i.e. in Central Africa. Likewise,
cultivars of the French Horn type seem to have False Horn rather than French
counterparts and this type of plantain probably originated in West-Central Africa, where
both incidence and diversity of the False Horn type are high. Finally, plantain diversity in
West Africa and the New World mirrors, albeit to a lesser extent, that in West-Central
Africa, and results from an introduction of all four bunch types from the latter area.
The distribution of the Horn type of plantain resembles that of the French type, but
its diversity remained much lower, in spite of the long time it has been in cultivation (as
witnessed by historical sources). The distribution of the False Horn type, on the other
hand, is more limited, although its diversity seems to be catching up with that of the
French type. The relatively high mutation rate of False Horn plantains under in vitro
conditions suggests that the speed of this developing diversity is due to genetic factors
(see also Krikorian et al. 1993), in addition to positive selection pressures such as
hardiness. The latter follows from distribution patterns and is also confirmed by
laboratory research. For instance, in a study on stomatal closure, whereby evaporation is
reduced, among a number of plantain (and banana) cultivars (Ekanayake et al. 1995) it
was found that the French Medium Green and the False Horn Medium Green cultivars
score highest in this respect, especially so in the afternoon. This agrees well the fact that