IITA announced the start of a 5-year US$13.8 million project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at scaling up and speeding up efforts to develop and deliver to farmers higher yielding cooking banana hybrids with resistance to black leaf streak, Fusarium wilt, weevils and nematodes. The project will build on a previous collaborative effort by setting up on-farm trials in Tanzania and Uganda to further evaluate the NARITA varieties developed by IITA and NARO. The preliminary results of an on-station trial carried out in Central Uganda suggest that these hybrids have the potential to increase banana production.
The project will also expand existing breeding activities by developing methods to improve the production of hybrid seeds and identifying molecular markers for the selection of priority traits. This will be complemented by improved characterization of the spread and virulence of pests and diseases at farmers’ testing sites and the development and application of faster bioassay screens. The project will be coordinated by IITA and co-executed by 12 partners. It will also receive substantial co-financing from IITA, Bioversity International, and the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas.