Researchers at Kawanda national agricultural research laboratory have developed new varieties of bananas resistant to the devastating banana bacterial wilt disease, nematodes and weevils.
The bacterial wilt disease has ravaged banana crops across the country for over a decade with a capacity to cause 100% loss on a plantation.
Leaves of an affected plant turn yellow and droop while the fruit gets discolored and destroyed. The disease can spread quickly through a plantation and from farm to farm.
Following its outbreak in 2001, farmers in parts of central and western Uganda have been cutting down their plantations to contain the disease, hence losing their source of income and food.
But Dr. Andrew Kiggundu, head of the biotechnology centre at Kawanda, said the future is bright.
Read the full, original story here: “Kawanda develops wilt resistant banana varieties”
