Breeding Better Bananas Archives

Tanzania Agriculture PS acknowledges and lauds IITA research work

Study identifies banana varieties resistant to black Sigatoka and provides further insights into the disease pathogen

Black leaf Sigatoka, one of the most widespread and damaging banana diseases—causing yield losses of 20–50%—is widespread in Uganda and Tanzania, posing a challenge to banana production as bananas grown in East Africa are susceptible to the disease. However, the good news is that five hybrids of East African Highland banana hybrids named NARITA, after their…

“Breeding Better Bananas” project excels in developing new ‘Matooke’ hybrids

In October 2019, the “Breeding Better Bananas” project transitioned into Phase II—“Accelerated Breeding Better Bananas”—to further streamline the conventional breeding of banana in East Africa. This project brings together an international spectrum of partners to transform the national banana breeding programs in Uganda and Tanzania. This improved banana breeding pipeline has produced more than 231…