{"id":15564,"date":"2026-06-20T12:43:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/survey-identifies-black-sigatoka-banana-disease-hotspots-in-uganda-and-tanzania\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T20:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:32:16","slug":"survey-identifies-black-sigatoka-banana-disease-hotspots-in-uganda-and-tanzania","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/survey-identifies-black-sigatoka-banana-disease-hotspots-in-uganda-and-tanzania\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey identifies Black Sigatoka banana disease hotspots in Uganda and Tanzania"},"content":{"rendered":"Survey also finds disease is well established and more widespread than previously thought Both Luwero District in Uganda and Mbarara District, Kagera Region in Tanzania have been identified as the areas most affected by the deadly banana disease, black Sigatoka which is caused by a fungus. The disease, which was found to be more severe in Uganda than in Tanzania, was also more widespread than previously thought.\n\nThis was established by a survey on the distribution and severity of the Sigatoka leaf diseases and its pathogens conducted in the two countries as part of efforts to control its spread to protect the food and income of millions of smallholder farmers growing the crop.\n<div id=\"attachment_5605\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 1175px\">\n\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-28206\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Survey-identifies-p02-1-300x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1175\" height=\"589\" \/>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5605\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana inflorescence and fruits infected with black sigatoka disease.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nBanana, and especially the cooking type known as East Africa highland banana, is a vital staple food and income crop for over 80 million people in East Africa. However, productivity has been declining, partly due to diseases such as Sigatoka leaf diseases. Furthermore, all banana varieties grown in the two countries are susceptible to the disease.\n\nWhile there are three pathogens that cause Sigatoka-leaf symptoms, the study established black Sigatoka, caused by\u00a0<em>Pseudocercospora fijiensis,<\/em>\u00a0as the most widespread. Black Sigatoka was first reported in Tanzania in 1987 and, in Uganda in 1990, but was only present at low altitudes.\n\nHowever, the pathogen distribution has recently expanded, and it is now found at higher elevations that were previously considered unsuitable for their survival. This expansion reveals a gradual adaptation of the pathogen to cooler conditions of the higher altitudes.\n\nThe study also looked at historical data and established that the temperatures have increased in the past three decades, creating a favorable environment at high altitude areas for pathogen proliferation.\n\nNjeri Kimunye, an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">IITA<\/a>-sponsored PhD student at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, led the study.\n\n\u201cOur findings are a big step forward in efforts to control this disease of banana as they have helped us to understand better where the disease is, its severity, the pathogens, and factors for its spread,\u201d said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/mahuku-george\/\">George Mahuku<\/a>, IITA Senior Plant Pathologist and also a member of the international research team.\n\nThe research findings call for the deployment of an integrated disease management strategy that includes the use of resistant varieties and good agronomic practices to safeguard the livelihood of smallholder farmers in the region.\n\nIt also recommends creating awareness among the smallholder farmers on effective practices to stop the spread of the diseases as the use of fungicides is not an option for the resource-constrained, smallholder farmers growing the crop.\n\nThe study conducted between April and July 2016 surveyed 43 farms in Uganda and 81 in Tanzania. Sigatoka-like leaf diseases were observed in all the farms and plants surveyed. However, the disease severity varied significantly between countries, districts\/regions within countries, altitudinal ranges, and banana cultivars.\n\nThe study was carried out by a team of researchers from IITA in Uganda and Tanzania in cooperation with researchers from the Department of Plant Pathology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; and the Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement, KU Leuven, Belgium.\n\nThe survey was conducted as part of the project \u2018Improvement of banana for smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes Region of Africa\u2019 project. Details of the findings can be found in a paper\u00a0<em>\u201cDistribution of Pseudocercospora species causing Sigatoka leaf diseases of banana in Uganda and Tanzania\u201d<\/em>\u00a0published in Plant Pathology Journal, in January 2020 (issue 69, pages 50\u201259) (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/ppa.13105\"><strong>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/ppa.13105<\/strong><\/a>)\n<div id=\"attachment_5606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 688px\">\n\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-28207\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Survey-identifies-p01-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"688\" height=\"345\" \/>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5606\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana inflorescence and fruits infected with black sigatoka disease.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Survey also finds disease is well established and more widespread than previously thought Both Luwero District in Uganda and Mbarara District, Kagera Region in Tanzania have been identified as the areas most affected by the deadly banana disease, black Sigatoka which is caused by a fungus.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":15565,"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":[62],"crop":[65],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[198],"class_list":["post-15564","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hub-eastern-africa","crop-banana","item-year-198"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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