Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Afrique / Africa : G. Rossel
both cultivars are dominant in the Mayumba (coastal, sandy, windy peninsula) and
Mbigou (cold, windy mountain, 850 masl) areas, where the plants need to have some
drought-resistance. The difference in distribution patterns between the bunch types,
therefore, must be due to a combination of factors. The most important of these factors
are relative age in Africa (the False Horn type being “youngest” and the French Horn
type even younger still), hardiness (Horn plantains being least drought-resistant) and
mutational behaviour (French plantains being most stable).
In view of these considerations it is no surprise that the French plantains are most
diverse and widespread in Africa. In addition to French-type bunches, the commonest
morphological features of plantain cultivars are Medium-sized pseudostems, Green
(-Red) pseudostems and Pendulous bunches. These descriptors are not only most
numerous when counted individually, but also coincide in the, most widespread, French
Medium Green Pendulous cultivar. Hence, this cultivar (“Linnaeus” Musa paradisiaca?)
may be taken to represent the entire plantain group as well as the French plantains.
Interestingly, the same is also the case on a folk-taxonomical level, since in many
languages the name of the French Medium Green cultivar also has a generic meaning.
As for descriptor ratios, the overall number of cultivars of the three main bunch types
occur in a ratio of ca. 4:2:1 (French: False Horn: Horn). The same ratio also holds for
Medium-sized, Small-sized and Green (-Red) cultivars of these bunch types, but not for
the other descriptors (the case of Giant-sized cultivars not being clear). For example,
Red and (Violet-) Black pseudo-stem colours are predominantly, and Dark-Green pseudostems
only found among French cultivars, whereas cultivars with Wine-Red peudostems
are always of the False Horn type.
Based on the distribution of plantain cultivars, eastern Africa can be divided in three
zones. The first zone is coastal and extends from Kenya to KwaZulu Natal, including the
Comoros. Only the French Medium Green and Horn Medium Green cultivars are found
here, the former in all (suitable) parts of the area, the latter only in the north-east. The
second zone stretches from Central Tanzania to Malawi and possibly includes Madagascar
as well. This zone is characterised by some variation among the French and the
Horn types, by an absence of the False Horn type (as in zone I) and by the presence of
the Horn, unstable cultivar. The third zone consists of Uganda and Northwest Tanzania
and not only comprises all three main bunch-types but also the highest number of
cultivars. Therefore, zone III can be regarded as forming a transition zone between
eastern and Central Africa.
Apart from the above-mentioned factors (mutational behaviour, hardiness and
relative age), other causes for the inter-regional differences in distribution and
incidence of cultivars and cultivar types can be identified as well. These are, for
instance, ecological circumstances (altitude, rainfall, soil fertility), botanical properties
(precocity, suckering behaviour) or human selection (agronomic and culinary
preferences, ritual functions). The result of a high incidence of a certain type of plantain
grown is, of course, a high diversity of that type.
Finally, the plantain diversity in a given area is, in all probability, also related to the
position of that area with respect to the entire plantain growing “belt”, in this case of
191