Prevention is the best cure for banana viruses. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Based on a range of Projects. Smallholder growers in the Philippines and Uganda can now recognise virus infections in their banana plants. Simply spotting viruses early and pulling out the infected plants, then making sure new plants are healthy, helps double yields. The banana bunchy top and banana streak viruses devastate banana crops across South Asia and the Pacific. Now they are spreading in southern Africa. No varieties resistant to either virus have been found and, because chemicals don't work against viruses, prevention is the best option. Growers in Davao-Mindanao, in the Philippines, and in Rakai, Masaka and Ntungamo, Uganda, found that just by removing infected plants they reduce damage and prevent spread of the viruses. They also now make sure that they plant healthy plantlets, produced by low-cost tissue culture.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Environmental Impact, Annex. Attached PDF (11 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
CPP75, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 25.