Why the future is bright for banana farming

Currently, a banana bunch trades at an average of Sh10,000 to Sh15,000: up from Sh5,000 a few years ago.

Reports show that the price of a bunch of the produce shoots up to between Sh20,000 and Sh25,000 during the year-end festive season.

A regional agriculture officer, Mr Simon Msoka, recently told The Citizen that the major staple food in the region has become a big cash spinner.

He says in terms of business, the crop leads in Kilimanjaro Region, followed by coffee, which used to be the major cash crop in the past.

That was before coffee cultivation started to plummet due to price unsteadiness.

“Rombo, Moshi, Hai and Siha districts are the major banana producers in the region. However, the crop is also produced in minimal quantities on the mountain slopes of Mwanga and Same districts,” says Mr Msoka.

According to him, Kilimanjaro produces an average of 700,000-to-one million tonnes of bananas a year. The region aims to step up production to 1.5 million tonnes per year.

Despite the efforts, the agriculture officer says production of the crop plummeted from 968,060 tonnes during the 2018/2019 season to 852,682 tonnes in the 2019/20 season.

Mr Msoka went on to say that banana production declined further to 732,662 tonnes in the 2021/2022 season due to the long dry spells.

Apart from using the crop as food, Mr Msoka says that bananas, which are also consumed as fruits are also used for production of local brew (pombe ya mbege) as well as juice and wine.

“The mchare variety of banana is mainly used for food and the surplus sold to major towns including the city of Dar es Salaam and the neighbouring country of Kenya,” he says - adding that “Another variety known as William is produced for business and also consumed as a fruit.”

Mr Msoka says there has been a strategy to create a good banana market system and sensitise banana growers on becoming members of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (Amcos).

“By becoming Amcos members, farmers will have strong tools for accessing markets for the produce,” he says.

Kilimanjaro Region, Mr Msoka says, has intensified cooperation with other stakeholders.

Among them are Maua Mazuri Company, researchers, who engage in production of improved banana seedlings in the effort to increase efficiency.

Furthermore, he says since Kenya has been found to be the major market, the remaining task is to mobilise growers to increase production in order to meet the high demand. In the process, this will improve individual as well as the country’s economy.

Major income source

A crop expert, Mr Ibrahim Ngowo - who doubles as an agriculture officer in Rombo District - says one acre can produce over 15 tonnes of bananas per year.

He points out that in order for a banana grower to benefit from the crop, they are supposed to observe farming procedures and guidelines. According to the experts, 75 percent of Rombo District residents’ income comes from the produce.

A banana grower, Ms Rukia Seme, who earns a living from banana production says she grows the Kitarasa variety for business. She obtains seedlings from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Pare mountains. She concurs that following expert guidelines is very important for healthy crops and better yields.

A banana expert from the Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (Tari) at the Tengeru Centre, Dr Mpoki Shimwela, says bananas are classified food and cash crops.

He says 11 million people equivalent to 15 percent of Tanzanians, particularly in Kagera, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya regions, depend on the crop for daily living.

The regions are well known for the cultivation and consumption of the crop in Tanzania, whose contribution to food security is over 50 percent.

Other regions, where the crop is largely produced are Arusha, Ruvuma, Songwe, Morogoro, Tanga, Kigoma, Mara, Zanzibar and Coast, while Mwanza, Geita, Katavi, and Manyara regions are minor producers, according to the expert.

Dr Shimwela says Tanzania’s annual banana production stands at 3.7 million metric tonnes on an average of 400,000 acres, whereby 80 percent of bananas are produced in Kagera, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya regions.

Suitable weather

Tropical climate is suitable for banana cultivation with temperatures ranging between 27 and 30 degrees centigrade and an average rainfall of between 800mm and 2000mm.

The crop needs enough depth and fertile soil to grow well.

The major challenges facing banana growers include a decline in market prices, diseases, pests, inadequate fertile soil and drought among others.

Banana varieties

Dr Shimwela mentions banana varieties that are cultivated domestically in their Swahili names as mchare, kisukari, matooke - which is produced both in Tanzania and Uganda - as well as msusu.

Pests and diseases

According to the expert, fusarium wilt famously known as Panama disease is the common disease affecting most natural banana plants. He notes that it mostly affects sweet bananas and mchare varieties in Tanzania.

“The Black Sigatoka disease affects all kinds of natural banana plants. This is a disease that has spread in all banana growing regions, especially in Mbeya and Kagera.” He adds: “This disease largely affects production of bananas as black spots that occur on the leaves, normally reducing the ability of the plant to produce food and leading to decline in production.”

Another disease, Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), is a very dangerous disease that affects banana plants as it scalds the banana plant leaves, makes the fruit get rotten completely, making it unfit for human consumption.

Dr Shimwela says the disease has largely spread in the Lake Zone regions - especially in the Kagera, Kigoma and Mara - as well as in Ukerewe island.

He says banana plants are also affected by ‘banana bunch top virus and cigar end rot’ diseases.

Worms known as nematodes and banana weevils largely affect natural banana plants and cause huge losses to farmers, according to Dr Shimwela.

Addressing the challenges

Dr Shimwela says the challenges of pests and diseases could be addressed through use of improved banana varieties discovered by Tari, which have proven to have higher resistance levels.

“These new types of banana varieties have the ability to produce between 25 and 80 tonnes of bananas per hectare annually,” says Dr Shimwela, adding that the varieties that have got a sweet taste take an average of 500 to 600 days to mature properly.

Generally, they completely resemble natural matooke species, according to Dr Shimwela.

He adds that Tari continues to conduct studies and innovations on different kinds of agro-technologies in order to help farmers benefit from their agricultural engagements.