New Propagation Techniques Boost Ghana Banana-Plantain Production

Banana-Plantain, one of the staples in Ghana, was the focus of a food agriculture program of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture  (IITA) in collaboration with other national science organizations. In the past two years, two million Musa seedings were distributed for planting in 1,300 hectares in Ghana. This US$2.5 million worth of seedlings was made possible through a micropropagation technigue developed by the IITA and other partner researchers, and is a part of the four year research program funded by the UK-based Gatsby Foundation.  The plant distribution initiatives were spearheaded by Ghana-based organizations led by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Crop Research Institute (CSIR-CRI).

The Ghanaian banana producers comprising 4,000 local farmers have benefited from the said project.  A study in 2005 showed that a 300,000 ha of banana plantation produced  2.8 million tons of bananas, valued at $710 million.  “This is an admirable example of scientific and market-development cooperation across several levels,” said Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, IITA plant breeder based in Ghana.

 For details of the press release, visit: http://www.iita.org/cms/details/news_details.aspx?articleid=1474&zoneid=81