Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

730 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 4
from single (31%) to over four crops (17%). Major inter-cropping systems were
banana/coffee (33%), banana/beans (33%) and banana/yams (15%). Limited access to
productive land and labour were some of the reasons why farmers intercropped. Farm
sizes averaged 2.9 ha. Sixty-nine percent and 42% of the farmers had less than 2 ha and 1
ha respectively. On average, 0.68 ha were allocated to bananas in pure stand and 1.2 ha
in mixed stand. In terms of food, bananas ranked first followed by cassava, beans and
sweet potatoes. In terms of cash, more income was got from bananas followed by coffee,
and beans. Crops contributed 58% of the total household income. Bananas accounted for
68% of farmers’income received from crops. Weevil damage, access to infrastructure and
off-farm income had a significant influence on banana productivity. Differences in levels
of management also had an effect on farm level profitability of bananas. Profitability
indicators showed bananas to be more profitable than annual food crops (maize, sweet
potatoes, cassava and groundnuts). However, coffee was more profitable (1.9) than
bananas and other cropping systems, namely maize/beans (1.4), maize (0.9), beans (1.1),
sweet potatoes (1.1), cassava (1.2) and groundnuts (1.2).
Introduction
Highland cooking banana (“matooke”, Musa genome group AAA-EA) is the most
important staple crop in the East Africa Great Lakes Region (Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi
and Eastern Zaire). In Uganda, bananas are firmly rooted in the country’s culture where
the Baganda, who live from the north-central shores of Lake Victoria to the West Bank of
the Nile, have grown the crop from antiquity. Between 1900 and 1930, banana cultivation
further penetrated throughout the highlands. During the last 20 to 50 years, banana has
replaced millet as the key staple in much of south-western Uganda.
In recent years, a decline in matooke production, associated with soil exhaustion,
pest pressure and socio-economic constraints, has favoured some banana cultivars
(mainly of the beer types ABB and AB) and annual food crops (cassava, maize and sweet
potato) in central Uganda (Anonymous 1991, Gold et al. 1998). At the same time,
production in the country’s south-west has increased mainly as a result of rapid
development in urban market demand and increase in population. Banana is fully
established as the primary urban staple in key cities like Kampala, Jinja and Entebbe
(Mugisha and Ngambeki 1994).
Importance of banana as a food crop in central Uganda dropped from 18% in 1970 to
4% in 1990. As cash crop, highland banana dropped from 7% in 1970 to 2% in 1990 (Gold
et al. 1998). Cost/benefit analysis revealed lower benefits from bananas for central
Uganda (benefit/cost ratio = 3.02) compared to south-western Uganda (4.20) (Bagamba
1994). The difference in benefit cost ratios for banana in central and south-western
Uganda was attributed to differing yield coefficients (6.68 for central compared to 12.5
for south-western Uganda). Wage rates were not significantly different (840 U. Shs/day
for central and 849 U. Shs/day for south-western Uganda) (Bagamba 1994). However,
total cost of production was reportedly higher for south-western Uganda (170,000 U. Shs
per ha compared to 140,000 U. Shs for central), reflecting differences in amounts of