A workshop to discuss intervention and research options was held in Kampala from 8-11 April 2013. Co-organized by NARO, Bioversity International and IITA, the workshop was attended by some 40 scientists.
Click on image to download the report of the workshop
Workshop outputs
1. Disease surveillance - 2. Bacterial wilts management - 3. Bunchy top management - 4. Sustainable intensification - 5. Fusarium wilt management - 6. Diploid breeding - 7. Breeding for resistance to pests and pathogens - 8. Use and availability of diversity - 9. Post-harvest
1) Risk assessment, diagnostic tools, predictive models and strategy for disease surveillance
Target domain: Great Lakes region (southern Uganda, Eastern DR Congo, northwestern Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda) where a significant percentage of the population is resource poor, malnourished and dependent on banana.
Intervention: Safeguarding banana production from the introduction of exotic diseases and the further spread of endemic diseases, and improved management systems through rapid detection and appropriate management of Xanthomonas wilt, bunchy top, Fusarium wilt, Mycosphaerella leaf spot diseases and nematodes (Radopholus similis and the emerging Pratylenchus).
Research outputs:
- national, regional, continental and global disease distribution maps;
- diagnostic tool kits for lab and field (factsheet, diagnostic keys, manuals, serological and molecular methods);
- agreed contingency plans to limit exotic disease outbreaks;
- establishment of protocols for management of the further spread of endemic diseases;
- technical capacity created for disease diagnostics and reporting for research, extension and regulators;
- create and manage knowledge database;
- develop risk assessment criteria for introduction of exotic and management of endemic diseases to guide target areas surveillance, to refine mitigation strategies based on critical control points as influenced by cultivation and trade parameters.
Expected timeline:
Phase I (0 - 1 years): Scoping study – literature review; evaluation of current field conditions and individual and institutional competences; implementation framework;
Phase II (1 - 5 years): Implementation and evaluation of system - capacity building; test responsiveness of system to curtail disease incursions and spread; recommendations on how to optimize methods, responsibilities, knowledge sharing; identification of diagnostic needs; development of prototype tools;
Phase III (5 – 15 years): Sustainability and implementation of system. Refinement of methods incl. diagnostic tools and feedback loops to refine mechanisms.
Adoption: protection of yield on area grown with susceptible cultivars where disease is currently not present (use likely pattern and speed of disease spread instead of adoption curve).
Impact type: yield losses averted; avoidance of price increase (likely if local production eradicated); increased investment in banana sector due to higher level of confidence in disease prevention, containment, and/or eradication.
2) Integrated management of Xanthomonas wilt and other bacterial diseases in smallholder systems
Target domain: East and Central Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi and Ethiopia), Asia and Latin America (for transgenic varieties).
Intervention: Developing and deploying resistant cultivars; evaluation and dissemination of genotypes escaping insect vector transmission; assessing constraints to adoption, understanding gender roles for enhanced adoption; raising public awareness to enhance adoption; develop low-cost macro-propagation units; develop stakeholders’ platforms for delivery of clean and/or resistant planting materials; better understanding of host-pathogen interactions for more easily adoptable control packages; socio-economic impact assessment.
Research outputs:
- resistant cultivars (including GM cultivars) developed and deployed;
- improved cultural practices validated and disseminated;
- low-cost field diagnostic kit developed and deployed.
Expected timeline:
7 years to obtain research output “GM cultivar”, one more year before dissemination starts, dissemination phase of 10-15 years;
5-7 years to obtain research output “improved cultural practices”, dissemination would start at onset of project (continuous fine-tuning of package during project duration), dissemination phase of 3 -5 years;
4-5 years to obtain research output “diagnostic kit”; dissemination phase of 3-5 years once output ready.
Adoption:
GM cultivar: adoption starts in year 8, ceiling of 75% reached 5-10 years after first adoption;
Varieties that escape insect-mediated wilt infection; adoption starts in year 5; 75% ceiling in 3-5 years after adoption;
Improved cultural practices: starts in year 1, ceiling of 75% reached 5 – 7 years after first adoption
Impact type: yield loss prevented; yield recovery where disease has already reduced yields; yield increase due to improved cultural practices; small scale banana-based industries revived.
3) Recovery of smallholder banana production in areas affected by bunchy top
Target domain: diverse smallholder perennial systems of East African highland banana, Plantain, Cavendish in Asia (Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka), West and Central Africa (DR Congo, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Benin, Nigeria), East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda), and Southern Africa (Malawi, Angola, Zambia)
Intervention: clean seed supply through tissue culture and/or macro propagation, community strategies for a fallow period free of bananas, approaches for reducing reinfection and parallel cropping system intensification.
Research outputs:
- diagnostic tools;
- genetic resource evaluation for mechanisms of tolerance and susceptibility and expression of symptoms;
- strategies for supplying clean planting material;
- epidemiology of BBTV and aphids;
- piloting integrated approaches to the recovery of BBTV-affected areas.
Expected timeline:
Phase I (0 - 5 years): pilot approaches based on existing information/ technologies;
Phase II (5 - 10 years): improved pilot approaches incorporating lessons/research results of Phase I;
Phase III (10 - 20 years): large scale use of outputs (based on strategies developed in Phases I and II).
Adoption: expected to start in year 6, ceiling of 50-80% reached in year 20 (region specific).
Impact type: yield loss prevented; yield recovery where disease has already reduced yields, NR effects due to shifts to annual crops such as cassava which may result in greater soil erosion.
4) Sustainable intensification of banana-based cropping systems
Target domain: smallholder farmers that potentially have good access to (urban) markets and grow Plantain in West and Central Africa and Latin America, East African highland bananas in East Africa, dessert bananas in Southern Africa, East and West Africa and Asia and ABB bananas in Asia.
Intervention: integrated crop intensification package adapted to the local biophysical and socio-economic environment. The composition of the intensification package will depend on key production and market constraints and opportunities and can include (a) quality planting material, (b) improved timing of production through adapted sucker/planting timing, (c) suitable varieties, (d) integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), (e) integrated pest management (IPM) of weevils, nematodes, leaf diseases, (f) alternative plant densities, (g) irrigation / water management, and (h) novel and improved intercrop systems.
Research outputs:
- Diagnostic survey tools and models to identify key constraints and related entry points to improve yields -> decision making tools to prioritize investments;
- Targeted technology pathways and packages for improved productivity;
- Communication / training tools, including technical sheets, short videos to reach end-users through training of trainers, (innovative and effective) farmer organizations.
Expected timeline:
Phase I (0 - 5 years): product identification, development and testing;
Phase II (5 - 10 years): validation, local adaptation, scaling out strategy & tools;
Phase III (10 - 20 years): scaling out.
Adoption: expected to start in year 5, ceiling of 80% reached in year 20.
Impact type: yield increase, NR effects, reduced prices (for urban consumers).
5) Sustainable Fusarium wilt management system
Target domain: disease affected areas of Cavendish, Gros Michel and others AAA dessert bananas, Pome and Silk subgroups (AAB), Pisang awak and Bluggoe ABB types grown by smallholder farmers.
Latin America and the Caribbean: 30% of area with Cavendish and Gros Michel, Silk, Pome (locally known as Prata), Bluggoe and Pisang awak;
Tropical Asia: 80% of Cavendish and other AAA bananas, Silk and Pisang awak area;
South Asia: 60% of Pisang awak and Silk area in India and Bangladesh;
South Africa: 40% of Cavendish area;
West, Central and East Africa: to be determined.
Intervention: Develop and promote sustainable integrated management approach of Fusarium wilt.
Research outputs:
- resistant varieties;
- improved cultural practices;
- biocontrol procedures, including suppressive soils;
- Fusarium population structure knowledge and race specific diagnostic tool;
- improved seed multiplication and distribution.
Expected timeline:
9 years to obtain all research outputs (some outputs will be achieved earlier i.e. during project duration); 1 year gap after outputs are available before dissemination will start (capacity building, training and lobbying among NARS, NGO´s, Private entrepreneurs, Ministries of Agriculture, Plant protection organizations).
Adoption:
Asia: expected adoption ceiling of 80% of target area reached 5 years after first adoption;
LAC and Africa: expected adoption ceiling of 40% of target area reached 8 years after first adoption.
Impact type: yield loss prevented; yield recovery where disease has already reduced yields.
6) Rapid and enhanced genetic gains by diploid breeding
Target domain:
Cultivar groups targeted: (a) East African highland bananas (b) Plantains (c) AAB dessert bananas (d) AAA dessert bananas;
Geographic regions targeted: (a) Great Lakes Region of Africa: (b) West and Central African lowlands + Congo basin: (c) Brazil and India; (d) Global smallholders for local markets.
Intervention: recurrent selection with progeny testing to improve diploid populations to generate elite diploid hybrids for further used as parents in 3x-2x or 4x-2x inter-mating. Tools such as marker-aided breeding, double haploids, genomic selection (including the use of genotyping-by-sequencing or next generation sequencing) will be applied to the diploid breeding populations.
Research outputs: Improved diploid populations and elite diploid parents as per end-user demands.
Expected timeline: 4 breeding cycles of 4 years each (due to mandatory progeny testing, particularly when pursuing reciprocal recurrent selection).
Adoption: Improved parents for breeding will available 4 years after each cycle of recurrent selection; outputs very likely to be used in breeding due to the lack of elite diploid breeding materials for use as parents in Musa genetic enhancement; likely users of the research outputs: IITA, NARO, CARBAP, ICAR, Embrapa, CIRAD and other NARS elsewhere, particularly those newly engaging in Musa breeding; time required for new varieties based on improved parents to be available to farmers depends on next breeding step (i.e. their use for producing polyploidy hybrids) under each target trait, e.g. for host plant resistance to black leaf streak, Panama disease, bacterial wilt, banana weevil and other pests.
Impact type: research is targeting producing intermediate products that will accelerate and enhance genetic gains in plantain and banana breeding. The impact will be measured in terms of diversity of diploid sets of elite parents with required target traits as defined by end users. The long term benefits will be improved yields (as measured by unit of time and space) in banana and plantain cultivars.
7) Breeding for host plant resistance to pests and pathogens
Target domain: affected smallholder production areas of:
- East African highland bananas in the Great Lakes Region;
- Plantains in West, Central and East Africa, India, Brazil and other Latin American areas;
- Sweet acid banana in Brazil, India, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Intervention: mitigating losses from the mentioned pests/diseases (namely black leaf streak, nematodes, banana weevil and Fusarium wilt) through breeding for enhanced host plant resistance and improved management;
Research outputs:
- East African highland bananas resistant to nematodes, weevils, Fusarium wilt and black leaf streak, and appropriate fruit quality;
- Plantains resistant to black leaf streak, nematodes and weevils, and with improved suckering and fruit quality traits;
- sweet acid bananas resistant to Fusarium wilt, black leaf streak and nematodes, and with improved fruit quality traits.
Expected timeline: Time required to complete research outputs: 8 years;
Adoption:
- East African highland bananas: expected adoption ceiling of 60% reached 10 years after first adoption.
-
Plantains:
- Brazil: expected adoption ceiling of 70% reached 15 years after first adoption
- India: expected adoption ceiling of 20% reached 25 years after first adoption
- East Africa: expected adoption ceiling of 100% reached 30 years after first adoption
- West Africa: expected adoption ceiling of 50% reached 20 years after first adoption
- LAC: expected adoption ceiling of 25% reached 15 years after first adoption.
-
Sweet acid bananas:
- Brazil: expected adoption ceiling of 70% reached 10 years after first adoption
- India: expected adoption ceiling of 20% reached 25 years after first adoption
- East Africa: expected adoption ceiling of 90% reached 30 years after first adoption
- West Africa: expected adoption ceiling of 25% reached 30 years after first adoption.
Impact type: reduced yield loss from specified pests/diseases.
8) Better use and availability of existing genetic diversity for biotic and abiotic stresses and consumer acceptability
Target domain: 50% of all banana production area (excluding Cavendish) globally across all regions for production systems ranging from backyard to monocrop systems.
Intervention: i) Better characterization/evaluation of cultivars (based on consumer preferences) and ii) systematic survey and evaluation of desired traits;methods to be applied: for i) survey of existing collections, select/multiply/clean; molecular/morpho-characterization, evaluation under varying conditions (space and time); ii) looking for naturally occurring clonal variation, inducing variability (e.g. in vitro culture, mutagenesis), identify/collect/multiply/evaluate/validate.
Research outputs:
- catalog of cultivars evaluated for specific traits (useful for specific agroecologies);
- catalog of superior clonal selections with stable traits.
Expected timeline: research outputs obtained within 3 – 5 years
Adoption:
- Just in time supply system: dissemination starts 2 years after research outputs are available (dissemination through NGOs and government extension system); expected adoption ceiling of 40% reached 10 years after first adoption
- Adapting technology for waste use for local conditions: dissemination starts in 2nd year of research; (dissemination through NGOs and government extension system); expected adoption ceiling of 70% reached 5 years after first adoption
- Adapting processing technology to local conditions: dissemination starts 1 year after research outputs are available (dissemination through SME); expected adoption ceiling of 50% reached 10 years after first adoption
Impact type: reduced post-harvest and handling losses; lower processing costs; higher income for producers engaging in processing/value addition and selling by-products; increase in farm-gate price due to improved quality of produce (and reduced risk); reduced consumer prices; improved market access (price premium).
9) Extending utilization and reducing post-harvest losses
Target domain: Small and medium scale producers (for plantain processing and post-harvest options) in West and Central Africa and India; processors of banana products (East Africa and Latin America).
Intervention: : Reducing post-harvest losses and waste and/or expanding use of waste, decreasing processing costs and increasing income for small-scale producers/processors through improving post-harvest systems (just in time supply); processing and value addition (developing rural agri-business options for improved income and gender equity).
Research outputs:
- A system developed for timely delivering of high quality banana from producers to (actors further up the value chain such as retailers and ultimately) end-users;
- Technologies developed for value addition and increased commercialization of banana-waste;
- Processing technologies for banana-juice (East Africa) and plantain chips (West Africa) adapted to the local condition of mini- and small-sized companies in East and West Africa.
Expected timeline: research outputs obtained within 3 – 5 years.
Adoption:
- Just in time supply system: dissemination starts 2 years after research outputs are available (dissemination through private sector, NGOs and government extension system); expected adoption ceiling of 40% reached 10 years after first adoption;
- Adapting technology for waste use for local conditions: dissemination starts in 2nd year of research; (dissemination through private sector NGOs and government extension system); expected adoption ceiling of 70% reached 5 years after first adoption;
- Adapting processing technology to local conditions: dissemination starts one year after research outputs are available (dissemination through SME and NGOs); expected adoption ceiling of 50% reached 10 years after first adoption.
Impact type: reduced post-harvest and handling losses; lower processing costs; higher income for producers engaging in processing/value addition and selling by-products; increase in farm-gate price due to improved quality of produce (and reduced risk); improved market access (price premium).