Civil Law

RWANDA

ear.

Banana production:
The bananas commodities have been cultivated in nearly all tropical regions of the African continent compounded many developing countries, especially in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The most prevalent variety in Banana is the East African Highland Banana (EAHB) which is a staple starchy food for 80 million people and important source of income. There are 120EAHB varieties in Uganda alone that are not found anywhere else in the world. Black Sigatoka has already cut crop yields by 40 percent in Uganda, the world's second largest banana producer, only next to India.

Of the numerous edible varieties, the EAHB accounts for 17% of the types of Musa grown worldwide, and plantain accounts for another 19%. They provide food security and income forsmall-scale farmers who represent the majority of producers. Only about 15% of the global banana and plantain production is involved in international trade; most production is consumed domestically.
Banana starch, flour, and chips are processed banana products whose markets are yet to be fully developed.More than 100 million tons of banana were produced worldwide in 2007 according to FAO estimates.Bananaare grown in nearly 130 countries.Remarkably is the rank of Uganda in the first position of largest producer of banana in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), followed by Rwanda as the second one.The consume annually of the African population is 21 kg of banana and plantain per capita, but Ugandans consume 191 kg per year, or more than half of one kg per day.

Black Sigatoka disease is considered the mosteconomically important disease of banana worldwide, causing typical yield losses up to 50%
It was first identified in Ethiopia in the 1970s, but spread rapidly to other parts of the Great Lakes region after reaching Uganda in 2001 .
In the graph below it has been demonstrated that banana is the second major food crop in Rwanda. It is used both as food and cash crop (MINECOFIN, 2001, Kiiza et al(2004). The crop is grown all over the country by small-scale farmers, but principally in three provinces namely: KIBUNGO, GISENYI and CYANGUGU. Many banana varieties are grown and consumed.
In the surveyed areas, the most grown crop is banana (85.2%) followed by
This justifies the importance of banana crop in Rwanda as it has been
noted by Geurts (1986), and Mpyisi et al (2000) that bananaoccupies 23 % of
arable land and represents more than 50 % of annual agricultural production.
However recent data showed that in Rwanda, banana production declined by 55
% from 1990 to 2005 due to banana wilt disease which is even a regional banana
constraint (MINECOFIN & MINAGRI 2007).
The third crop is sweet potatoes (31.3%) followed by coffee (30%) and then
cassava (29.8%). All these cropsare grown in similar climatic conditions.
More than 29 brewing banana varieties are cultivated and similar observation has
been made by Gaidashova et al (2005). Banana variety traditionally called
intuntu is the most popular (40.7%) followed by inkamba (13.6%) indaya (5.3%)
and Poyo (4.5%). There are 27 cooking banana varieties. Five of them are mort
popular: Injagi (53.8%), Barabeshya (12.2%)Nkazikamwa (12.2%), Intutsi
(11.2%), Intokatoki (6.3%). About 10 dessert banana varieties are grown in
Rwanda but the most popular are respectively: Kamaramasenge (42.7%), Gros
Michel (24.5%) and Poyo (14.3%). Gaidashova et al (2005) found that beer
bananas are predominant in Cyangugu and Gisenyi .

Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda were losing billions of dollars to banana wilt disease that isdestroying banana plants in the mainly banana producing regions of the three countries.
It is estimated that the overall economic loss to the Banana Wilt (BXW) disease is between $ 2 billion to 8 billion in the last 10 years while the production loss is estimated at about 53% in cooking bananas in the next 10 years if the disease is left unchecked.

According to a study published in the May issue...