Abstract
Xanthomonas wilt is a major constraint to banana production in the East and Central Africa. The disease can cause up to 100% yield losses if proper management strategies are not well implemented. Understanding of disease status, driving factors and farmers’ knowledge provide insights towards a sustainable management approach. A total of 120 and 150 banana farms from eight and ten districts of Rwanda were surveyed for disease occurrence in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The owners of the farms were interviewed about disease knowledge, management practices, and source of information in these aspects. The results show that Xanthomonas wilt was present in all surveyed districts with high incidence (above 45% in both 2015 and 2016) in major banana growing areas, highlighting the risk of increasing yield losses. High Xanthomonas wilt incidence and severity was associated with Impara and Eastern plateau agro-ecological zones, intercropping systems, brewing bananas, dense spacing, and homogenous cultivars. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the gravity of Xanthomonas wilt in major banana growing areas of Rwanda. This agrees with the finding that proper implementation of management practices by the farmers remains limited. Disease management difficulties could be attributed to inaccessibility to the right information since some information sources may be unreliable. We also report for the first time that fields with a mixture of indigenous and improved cultivars are likely to have low Xanthomonas wilt disease severity (p < 0.005), and this could be considered in banana Xanthomonas wilt management package. Our findings are essential to understand the urgency of improving extension services with updated practices and reinforcing disease monitoring efforts in order to stop new infections and further spread of the Xanthomonas wilt disease, a threat to sustainable banana production in Rwanda.
Highlights
IntroductionBanana (Musa spp.) is an important staple crop grown for both subsistence and income generation by smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa
Banana Xanthomonas wilt surveys were conducted during March–April 2015 in four agro-ecological zones (Birunga, Buberuka, Central Plateau, and Eastern Plateau) and during March–April 2016 in five agro-ecological zones (Fig. 2)
The presence of banana Xanthomonas wilt in all surveyed districts indicates that despite the efforts and campaigns to combat the disease (Murekezi 2009) it continued to spread across the country if compared with the report from 2009 to 2010 (Night et al 2013)
Summary
Banana (Musa spp.) is an important staple crop grown for both subsistence and income generation by smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa. Rwanda is part of the region, and banana is one of the most important staple food crops (Karamura et al 2012) occupying 23% of the area cultivated and contributing to 28% of the total crop production (NISR 2016). The crop is mostly known for producing sweet dessert fruits, but in East Africa many cultivars are grown for their starchy fruits that are roasted or cooked and cultivars with bitter and astringent fruits that are used for brewing beer (Karamura et al 2012).
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