Biotech Updates

Follow-up on Banana Hybrids

May 25, 2007

A Bioversity-sponsored scientist, Beloved Mensah Dzomeku of the Crops Research Institute in Ghana, will be studying the impact of new banana hybrids to banana farmers in Africa. The so-called FHIA hybrids were produced by the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the African Center for Research on Bananas and Plantains (CARBAP) have also released new hybrids bred for disease resistance. Dzomeku and his collaborators will visit selected households that received IITA, CARBAP and FHIA hybrids to determine the extent to which the technologies have been adopted and have spread. They also plan to assess the impact of these technologies on banana yields, farm income, food security, and social dynamics.

Read the press release at http://news.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?itemid=1782.