Biodiversity for Food Security: Case Study of Banana and Plantain

in CARBAP

By:Dr. Jean Daniel NGOU NGOUPAYOU, PhD.

Acting Director, CARBAP

1. Diversity of bananas

• Banana and plantain (Musa spp. L.) are giant perennial herbs that thrive in the humid and sub-humid tropics of low and mid altitude areas

• They originate primarily from South-East Asia, with secondary centres of diversity in West and Central Africa (Plantain subgroup) and the East African highlands (Lujugira subgroup).

• Up to 1200 different varieties resulting from selection by man over many thousands of years can be distinguished

• Diversity in bananas extends to diversity in use types (desert, cooking, beer, vegetable) but also a wide diversity in their adaptation to different ecological settings

1. Diversity of bananas• Based on genetic constitution and use, the following operational groupings

can be distinguished: Edible and wild types

Edible types

Diploid AA : which is of strategic importance for breeding includes figue sucré and other Papua New Guinea cooking and desert types. Highest diversity and use is around Asia.

Diploid AB : This group comprises mostly cooking types among which feature Safet velchi and widely distributed around East Africa.

Triploid AAB : essentially made up of cooking types including plantains thatare of great importance to food security as a staple with highest diversity around West and Central Africa.

1. Diversity of bananasEdible types…

Triploid AAA : holds a very wide diversity and includes practically all export banana cultivars.

Figue rose, Gros michel sub group that had once been the leadingexport cultivar before the advent of the devastating panama disease,

the Cavendish sub group (more than 30 cultivars) that currently forms the basis of export banana trade,

the Lujugira sub group including the East African highland bananas (more than 60 cultivars) termed beer bananas but also used as cooking types,

the Ibota sub group among which feature Yangambi km5 that bears interesting traits for sigatoka and nematode resistance

1. Diversity of bananas

Edible type…

Triploid ABB : These are mostly the robust and vigorous Pelipita, Bluggoe, Fougamou and Saba types suited as cooking types.

Wild types

• Comprising about 180 species, they are all diploid seed bearing species but useful for non food purposes including textile (fibre) and animal nutrition. As a result of their fertility and resistance to pests and diseases, these species form the basis of all conventional banana breeding programmes around the world.

Plantain Diversity

Batard Big Ebanga CRBP 39 (hybrid)

Plantain Diversity

Essong FHIA 31 (Hybrid) Mbouroukou 3

2. Economic importance• Dessert and cooking banana is an internationally traded commodity, and also

a staple food for millions of people in the Oceania, Asia, India, Africa and Latin America.

• Plantains/bananas are major food crop in Africa where more than 10 million tons are produced (about 30% of the world’s production).

• Six countries including Cameroon with a total population over 270 million people produce over 85% of the plantain in Sub Saharan Africa and over 90% of the plantain produced in West and Central Africa (FAO 2007).

• Only about 15% of the global production of bananas and plantains is exported. The remaining 85%, made up of dessert bananas, cooking bananas and plantains, are consumed on farm or sold in local villages or large urban markets.

2. Economic importance• Specifically plantains provide about 70 million people in west and central

Africa with more than 200 calories a day

• The food uses of bananas and plantains in these 2 regions vary significantly with eating habits, tribes and socio-cultural ethics.

• More than 20 dishes made of banana and plantain pulps have been described recently in Cameroon

• Preparation of chips, fried and roasted plantain are mainly carried out by women and young boys on the streets in an effort to diversify sources of income.

• The juice from the ripe fruits of varieties known as “beer bananas” is frequently fermented to make a beer with a low alcohol content and short shelf-life.

2. Economic importance

• Also, large quantities of rejected bananas are often available for animal feed, and dried plantains can be used to substitute up to 70-80% of the grain in pig and dairy diets with little change in performance.

• The composition of Banana and plantain is as varied as their diversity. They have a high carbohydrate and low fat content, making them particularly useful in low fat diets.

• They are also a good source of many vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamins A, B6, C, potassium,

• Some rich-micronutrient Musa cultivars play a role in alleviating micronutrient deficiency and chronic disease problems, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes in target communities.

3. Challenges to banana diversity: a threat to food security for more than 270 million people

• Banana diversity is threatened by disease and pests pressures as well as farmers’ selection and preferences that provoke diversity erosion.

• A glaring example is that of the outbreak of the Panama disease that devastated entire plantations of the then main export cultivar Gros michel

• The export banana sector was saved by exploiting diversity through the replacement of Gros michel by Cavendish types

• Yellow Sigatoka Disease (YSD) and Black Leaf Streak Diseases (BLSD) are among the major production limiting factors. Both diseases may cause yield losses of 50 to 100 %

3. Challenges to banana diversity: a threat to food security for more than 270 million people

• There are some other threats to which the biodiversity is faced: the Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) and the Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW).

• While BXW infection is limited to some producing countries, BBTV has been evidenced in many production areas which include Cameroon and nearly all Central Africa States.

• The virus is quickly spreading and is difficult to eradicate. Moreover, there exist no cultivars resistant to BBTV likely to be used by the breeding programmes to develop resistant or tolerant hybrids.

3. Challenges to banana diversity: a threat to food security for more than 270 million people

• BBTV therefore constitutes a major concern for the various vulnerable communities who derive most of their important incomes from plantains.

• In summary, the main diseases and pests that pose a threat to banana diversity today include: Panama disease, Moko disease, Black and yellow sigatoka, Banana bunchy top disease; Nematodes and Weevils

• Research strategies to meet the challenges are based on two mainobjectives:

Development of integrated approaches to limit the impact on production

Development of strategies to curb geographic spread

Threats to plantain and banana diversity

BXW infestation in DRC (2004)

Threats to plantain and banana diversity

Weevil and nematode damages

(Congo-Brazzaville, 2009)

4. Achievements in CARBAP and other development partners

• The “Centre Africain de Recherches sur Bananiers et Plantains” (CARBAP) was created in 2001 following an inter-governmental agreement between six Central African Countries

• CARBAP is a specialised Regional Center of Excellence both for CORAF/WECARD and CEMAC.

• The main objective of CARBAP is to improve productivity and competitiveness of plantains and other locally consumed bananas towards maintaining food security and alleviating poverty through sustainable agricultural practices.

• CARBAP provides support to NARS in the West and Central African region and its activities cover three major areas: IAR4D, training and capacity building, innovation and support to development.

4. Achievements in CARBAP and other development partners

• CARBAP plays an important role in terms of regional integration in west and central Africa through collaborative research and development

• CARBAP hosts the secretariat of the Musa (Banana and Plantain) Research Network for West and Central Africa (MUSACO),

• From its creation until now, CARBAP has been financially supported by the European Union

• Currently, CARBAP is implementing through the FSTP, a regional project amounting to 2.5 millions Euros on collaborative platforms for the transfer of innovations in central Africa.

• CARBAP also receives financial support from Cameroonian government, France and Belgium for institutional support

4. Achievements by research in CARBAP and other development partners

• From a global point of view, major advances have been made through collecting, conserving and encouraging sustainable use of genetic resources.

• Main achievements in CARBAP include:

The acquisition and maintenance of a field collection with close to 700 accessions

The partial characterization and documentation of these accessions

The distribution of genetic material

The development of improved varieties

4. Achievements by research in CARBAP and other development partners

• Many advances have been made towards management of diseases and pests

• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies vis-à-vis these diseases is based on many approaches among which genetic control

• CARBAP in collaboration with CIRAD has been able to develop new hybrids, some of which are resistant or tolerant to Black Streak Disease (BSD).

• Many breeding programmes utilize wild species (Musa acuminata) as the resistant parent in their breeding strategies.

CARBAP reference collection

CARBAP reference collection in Njombe

Using plantain BiodiversityHorticultural multiplication ‘’PIF’’

PRODUCTS

Plantain flour

NtubaFarine

Chips

5. What future for the banana: the way forward

• The loss of banana biodiversity poses a serious threat to food security of millions of people.

• It provides the sources of traits to improve yield, quality, resistance to pests and diseases and adapt to changing environmental conditions, such as global warming

• Actions to promote the conservation and sustainable use of banana diversity will include:

Strengthening and ensuring the maintenance of the field collection and conserving accessions for perpetuity (ex-situ conservation)

Prospecting within the Congo Basin to complete the representation of diversity especially of plantains

5. What future for the banana: the way forward

Contributing in the development of on farm management and in situconservation strategies

Completing the characterization of the collection

Strengthening the use of diversity for breeding and production

Developing integrated pest control strategies against current threats but particularly against emerging threats among which BBTV, BXW.

Implementing such adequate actions will not be possible without financial input from development partners and thanks to the European Union for its

continued support to CARBAP