Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Afrique / Africa : G. Rossel
translated (fiilii “elephant”, the Horn plantain, nowadays called mkono wa tembo
“trunk of elephant” in Swahili).
From the end of the 15th century onwards, with the opening of the maritime trade
routes to Africa and Asia, the body of historical material is steadily growing. This
material contains information about the occurrences of musa and musa cultivars in both
continents and in some cases, from the 19th century onwards, also about their spread.
An important role in the global dispersal of musa cultivars was played by botanical
gardens and, since colonial times, by agricultural research institutes and missionary
organisations. Undoubtedly, a careful perusal of archival records, of both the senders and
receivers, will enable us to draw up a more complete picture of the dispersal of musa
cultivars over the world, which, of course, is also of interest for the study of the origin
and spread of their pests and diseases.
Conclusions
On basis of the taxonomic, linguistic, historical and other evidence a synthesis has been
constructed, resulting in conclusions about the history of plantain in Africa. Briefly,
these conclusions amount to an initial introduction of the Medium-sized and Greenstemmed
French plantain cultivar (coined “French Medium Green”) to the northern
Swahili coast by Arabic-speaking people, directly or indirectly from India. Although the
time of introduction is unknown, the establishment of plantain as a food crop probably
did not take off before the eighth century AD. The introduction of the Horn plantain, to
the southern Swahili coast, must have taken place after the emergence of a distinct
southern Swahili dialect, but not later than the 12th century (when reference to it was
made in a historical source).
This French plantain, then, spread further to the interior via ecological steppingstones
and pathways formed by gallery forests and moist valley bottoms (Webi Shebelle,
Juba and Tana), lakes (Victoria, Kyoga, Albert) and rivers (Nile, Rwenzori, Ituri), after
which it reached the central African rainforest area where conditions are ideal for
plantain cultivation. Further spread took place via the Congo and Ubangi rivers and their
tributaries, but the Cuvette Centrale, the Bateke Plateau and the Mayombe Mountains in
both Congoes were circumvented in the first instance, due to geographical and
demographical factors. At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans, the diffusion had
reached south-eastern Nigeria.
The Horn Medium Green cultivar was introduced later, to a more southern part of the
East African coast, after which it found its way to the interior as well. The False Horn
type of plantain probably resulted from a reversion of a Horn plantain in Central Africa,
after the latter type had developed a certain degree of diversity in the area. The French
Horn type, finally, originated in West-Central Africa, where False Horn diversity is
highest, but probably not before the last couple of centuries. Only after the arrival of the
Europeans were plantains, of all bunch types, introduced to south-western Nigeria, West
Africa and the New World.
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