Alarm as disease threatens banana

• Farmers might have to destroy whole farms if the diseases spread

Disease is threatening to devastate banana production in 10 African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

Scientists say that the two diseases, known as bunchy top and bacterial wilt, are so serious they threaten food supplies in the 10 countries where bananas are a staple food.

Experts told the BBC Focus on Africa programme that farmers would have to use pesticides or change to a resistant variety of banana, or simply just dig up their entire crop.

Now scientists have been meeting in Tanzania to decide how to tackle the diseases. 

The scientists, from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), issued a statement this week saying “drastic and expensive control measures” were needed.

They recommended completely excavating entire banana fields and treating them with pesticides, or burning the plants.

In Kenya, agricultural experts say the bacterial wilt was first reported in Teso District in 2006.

Ministry of Agriculture’s deputy director in charge of crops, a Mr Chepkwony, however said the disease had drastically gone down since the country had embraced tissue culture as its main method of banana production.

“It’s a big danger because the affected areas have the banana as their staple crop,” Mr Christopher Chemirehreh of the Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute in Uganda, told Focus on Africa.

Uganda, the continent’s leading banana grower and consumer, has experienced bacterial wilt since 2001 and it causes losses of between $70 million and $200 million annually.