Farmers count losses as disease threatens to wipe out bananas

Banana production has been main source of income to Christopher Okwiri and other farmers in Western Kenya. But the investment faces a bleak future following an outbreak of a disease that is threatening to wipe out the crop.

The attack by Xanthomonas wilt has resulted in drying up of several hectares of young banana plantations, causing farmers to incur heavy losses.

“The disease has impacted negatively on our main source of income and food security. Several hectares of banana plantation are likely to be wiped out unless researchers come out with proper management practices on how to protect the plant from the infections,” appeals Mr Okwiri.

His five-acre farm in Teso district has been generating an average of Sh12,000 a month from the banana plantation.
A team from Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) recently toured areas affected by the disease and took samples for analysis.

Urgent intervention

According to Kephis general manager Dr Joseph Ahenda the disease is likely to find its way to Kisii area and Central Province unless urgent intervention measures are taken.

The banana wilt, suspected to have crossed over from Uganda, is spreading like wildfire and has been reported in Busia, Bungoma and other districts in Western Province where banana production is the source of livelihood.

Dr Ahenda disclosed that a farm in Busia has been quarantined because it used suckers from Uganda that were infected and supplied the produce to Rift Valley and Western provinces.

“We had to destroy all suckers at the farm before imposing quarantine because tests showed that they were infected with the disease,” he said while addressing a stakeholders awareness seminar on operations of Kephis in Malaba.

The Ministry of Agriculture has meanwhile advised farmers in the region to destroy the infected plants as a measure of containing the spread of the disease. “There is no effective chemical control over the disease but it can be managed if basic precautions are put in place,” advises James Etiang, an agricultural expert.

Apart from Xanthomonas wilt, the expert names black Sigatoka as another disease responsible for the decline in banana production in some parts of Western. Apart from the disease outbreak, farmers in the region have been faced with marketing problem which has pushed many of them to sell the bananas at throw away prices to middlemen.

Uganda is the leading banana producer in Africa and the second in the world after India with production of 10 million tonnes of bananas annually with an estimated value of Sh124 billion.