{"id":12993,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/african-countries-unite-against-deadly-banana-diseases\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:08","slug":"african-countries-unite-against-deadly-banana-diseases","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/african-countries-unite-against-deadly-banana-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"African countries unite against deadly banana diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_9484\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9484\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/image_gallery-1-8.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9484\" src=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/image_gallery-1-8.jpg\" alt=\"BBTD-infected banana plants (foreground). Image by Fen Beed, IITA.\" width=\"230\" height=\"202\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9484\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">BBTD-infected banana plants (foreground). Image by Fen Beed, IITA.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new front in the war against deadly banana diseases opens next month, with seven African countries uniting to launch a spatial surveillance program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IITA will lead the program, which will focus on limiting the spread of banana bunchy top disease (BBTD)  and banana <em>Xanthomonas<\/em> wilt (BXW).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These diseases threaten the livelihoods  and food security of over 70 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. No banana varieties are known to resist BBTD or BXW,  and there is a danger that all familiar banana types will be wiped out if urgent action is not taken, according to the IITA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Policymakers  and researchers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rw anda, Tanzania, Ug anda  and Zambia met in Kigali, Rw anda, last month (25\u201329 January), to be trained in disease surveillance  and control methods. These countries have all either reported the presence of BBTD or are at high risk of contracting it from a neighbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The aim of the training was to link research  and government staff within  and between countries,&#8221; said Fen Beed, IITA plant pathologist for East  and Southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the program, researchers will use Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS)  and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop a visual record of disease distribution. A second workshop in June will hone surveillance skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IITA began a two-year study last October to examine, among other things, why BBTD has spread so rapidly in the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lava Kumar, an IITA virologist, said the study&#8217;s researchers are taking a variety of approaches to tackling the virus  and its carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;[This work] is expected to provide a reprieve in the medium term  and sustainable solutions in the long term,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Murimi Kinyua, principal pathologist  and crop protection coordinator for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, said scientists from his institution  and the University of Nairobi are also conducting research in western Kenya, where a banana wilt disease outbreak was first reported in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We are screening the germplasm from the already affected plants to ascertain its resistance  and the extent of the disease distribution,&#8221; Kinyua told SciDev.Net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BBTD is caused by the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) spread by an aphid. It causes narrow bunched leaves  and stunted fruitless plants, which eventually die. It is difficult to identify in newly infected plants  and is often missed by farmers  and government agencies in the region, resulting in its unabated spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BXW is a bacterial disease that causes yellowing  and wilting of the leaves, uneven  and premature ripening of the fruits  and, eventually, the plants to rot  and die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211; <em>from SciDev.Net (<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scidev.net\/en\/news\/african-countries-fight-banana-disease.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>http:\/\/www.scidev.net\/en\/news\/african-countries-fight-banana-disease.html<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new front in the war against deadly banana diseases opens next month, with seven African countries uniting to launch a spatial surveillance program&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[65],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[188],"class_list":["post-12993","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","crop-banana","item-year-188"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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