Management of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt in East and Central Africa

MANAGEMENT OF BANANA XANTHOMONAS WILT IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA

Proceedings of the workshop on review of the strategy for the management of banana xanthomonas wilt

23 - 27 July 2007, Hotel la Palisse, Kigali, Rwanda

Eldad Karamura and William Tinzaara Boiversity International TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of acronyms i

Foreword ii

Acknowledgements iii

Background and workshop objectives 1

COUNTRY UPDATES ON XANTHOMONAS WILT MANAGEMENT

Xanthomonas wilt management in Burundi. C. Niyongere, S. Hakizimana and 4 S. Nshimirimana

Xanthomonas wilt management in the Democratic Republic of Congo. L. Ndungo 7 Vigheri and X. Phemba Phezo

Management of Xanthomonas wilt banana and enset in Ethiopia. Fikre Handoro 10

Xanthomonas wilt management in Kenya. S.S. S. Inzaule 13

Xanthomonas wilt management in Rwanda. C. Murekezi 16

Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in Tanzania. S.S. Mgenzi Byabachwezi 21

Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in Uganda. W.K. Tushemereirwe, 25 J. Kubiriba, C. Nankinga, M. Masanza, J. Muhangi, F. Ssekiwoko and E. Karamura

Plenary discussions of country updates on XW 36

CASE STUDIES ON XANTHOMONAS WILT MANAGEMENT 39

Distribution of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa. G.V. Nakato 40 and Maina Mwangi

Epidemiological Information for Xanthomonas wilt Control. F. Ssekiwoko, W.K. 45 Tushemereirwe and J. Kubiriba

Control of banana Xanthomonas wilt disease using biotechnology. Leena Tripathi, 51 J.N. Tripathi and W.K. Tushemereirwe

Cultural practices for management of Xanthomonas in Uganda. L.F. Turyagyenda, 56 Guy Blomme, E. Karamura, F. Ssekiwoko, W. Tinzaara, S. Mpiira and S. Eden-Green

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of Banana Xanthomonas wilt control 62 strategies in Uganda. M. Masanza, C.K. Nankinga, N.N. Odoi, J. Kubiriba, J. Muhangi and W.K. Tushemereirwe Plenary discussion: Case studies on BXW management 68

Evaluation of the diagnostic and management tools deployed for the control of 69 Xanthomonas wilt in east and Central Africa. E. Karamura, J. Muhangi and W. Tinzaara

Working group discussions 73

Plenary discusion and workshop recommendations 75

List of participants 84 LIST OF ACRONYMS

AATF African Agricultural Technology Foundation ARDI Agricultural Research and Development Institute ASPS Agricultural Sector Programme Support BARNESA Banana Research Network for East and Southern Africa C3P Crop Crisis Control Project CBOs Community Based Organisations CGIAR Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CRS Catholic Relief Services D.R. Congo Democratic Republica of Congo DANIDA Danish International Development Agency DAOs District Agricultural Officers DFID Department for International Development ECA east and Central Africa EGC Eden Green Consulting FAO Food and Agriculture Organization GCF Gatsby Charitable Foundation GPC Global Plant Clinic GPS Global Postioning System IDM Integrated Disease management IDRC International Development Research Centre IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture INIBAP International Network for the Improvement of Bananas and Plantains IRAZ Institut de Recherche Agronomique et Zootechnique ISABU Institut des Sciences Agronomique du Burundi ISAR Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR) KARI Kenya Agricultural Research Institute KEPHIS Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service MAAIF Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries MINAGRI Ministry of Agriculture of Rwanda MoU Memorandum of Understanding NARO National Agricultural Research Organisation NBBWCI National Banana Bacterial Wilt Control Initiative NGOs Non Government Orgarnizations NTF National Task Force PCR Polymerase Chain Reaction PDC Participatory Development Communication RADA Rwanda Agricultural Development Agency R&D Research and Development REFSO Rural Energy, Food Security Organization SNNPR Southern Nation, Nationalities and People Region of Ethiopia UCG Catholic University of Graben, DR. Congo USAID United States Agency for International Development XW Xanthomonas wilt of banana and enset

i FOREWARD

Nine months before the workshop, October 2006, the Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P) conducted a regional work workshop as part of the sub-project: Strengthening the capacity of regional NARS to sustainably manage the out break of the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas in East and Central Africa. The training adopted an onion peel approach whereby Tier 1 training was broad and deep in terms of content and this was progressively reduced to demonstrations, field visits and drama at the farm level. The workshop attracted five participants from each of the six countries participating in the project. The participants also disgnated trainers of trainers underwent training (Tier 1) in the use of tools for Xanthomonas wilt disease diagnosis, mechanisms of spread and control. The workshop activities included laboratory and field demonstrations of the tools; on farm visits and interaction with farmers; innovative public awareness approaches and plenary discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of the tools and approaches. The workshop was also a rare opportunity for cross-border interaction by the national teams to exchange ideas as to how activities on one side of the border could be re-enforced by efforts/activities across the same border. Subsequently, in plenary the teams developed and presented their workplans for the next 9 months for peer comments. The plans drawn covered national level training of trainers (Tier 2); plans for raising public awareness, targeting stakeholders right from the grassroot to policy making platforms; facilitating campaigns to control the epidemic and monitoring and evaluating project activities in respective countries. At the end of Tier 1 training, the participants were given hard and electronic copies of the tools that had been used in the training so that trainees, upon return to their respective countries, can make modifications (using electronic copies) to suit their needs. It was planned that the national level training (Tier 2) of trainers would produce community-based trainers that would subsequently train farmers (Tier 3) in the recognition, mechnanism of spread and the control of the disease. Bioversity International and IITA provided back-stopping support to the NARS level training activities (Tier 2) except in Uganda.

Over the subsequent six months the NARS executed the capacity building activities but it was not clear if the tools provided worked as planned or if they needed modifications to suit specific needs. Such information would help to make necessary adjustments to improve the quality of training delivered and hence strengthen the capacity for the control of the disease. To achieve this, a workshop was organized to bring participating NARS, along with their collaborating partners to review the use and application of tools disseminated at Tier 1 training and to obtain lessons from the teams that have applied the tools.

Financial resources for travel, hotel and food were provided by the Association for Strengthening Agricul- tural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) while the publication and dissemination of the report was supported by the C3P project.

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The workshop was organized with the help of ISAR-Rwanda, MINAGRI-Rwanda and CRS-Kigali who commited their time to do the hotel bookings and field arrangements to enable the workshop achieve its objectives. The BAIR team and field extension staff in Rubavu were extremely helpful in organizing the field demonstrations by the farmers who braved the rift valley heat to meet and interact with workshop participants. The region’s NARS, Bioversity and IITA staff committed their time off their busy schedules to participate in the workshop. The workshop was graced by the MINAGRI official led by Dr Agnes Kalibata Abera, the Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Rwanda, who underlined the importance of the Xanthomonas wilt in ECA, a region with the highest banana consumption in the world and underscored the plans and actions being taken in Rwanda to arrest the spread of the disease.

The workshop was supported financially by the ASARECA through a partnership agreement with Bioversity International. The publication and dissemination of the workshop proceedings was financed by the C3P executed by the Catholic Relief Services and funded by the United States Agency for Interna- tional Development (USAID). All the support in cash and in kind is highly acknowledged.

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Eldad Karamura and William Tinzaara, 2009: Management of Banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa. Proceedings of the Workshop on review of the strategy for the management of BXW, 23 - 27 July 2007, Hotel la Palisse, Kigali, Rwanda Cover Photo: Eldad Karamura Bioversity International – Headquarters Bioversity - Uganda Via dei Tre Denari 472a P. O. Box 24384 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy Plot 106, Katalina Road, Naguru Tel.: (39) 066118.1; Fax: (39) 0661979661 Kampala Uganda Email: [email protected]; Website: www.bioversityinternational.org iv Proceedings of the BARNESA, 23 - 27 July 2007, Hotel la Palisse, Kigali, Rwanda Proceedings of the workshop on review of the strategy for the management of banana Xanthomonas wilt Printed in Uganda. All rights reserved © 2009, Bioversity International pp. 1- 3

Background and workshop objectives

Introduction

Since its introduction and confirmation in the region, in 2001 the Xanthomonas wilt of banana has now been confirmed in all the countries of the great lakes region (Uganda, the D.R. Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya) except in Burundi, which also stands threatened. In Uganda, the disease incidence reached 70-80% within the space of the first year of its first detection. Yield losses up to 100% were recorded mainly for juice banana (Kayinja). It has been estimated that, by 2010, losses of up to US$ 4 billion could be incurred by the banana industry for Uganda alone, if no action is taken to rectify the situation (Karamura et al., 2006).

In 2005, the region’s banana research for development (R4D) stakeholders coordninated by the Banana Research Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (BARNESA), Bioversity International and supported by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Development Research Council (IDRC)-Canada developed a regional strategy to manage/control the disease. The strategy envisaged the empowerment of key stakeholders with skills and knowledge needed to control the disease in a coherent and coordinated regional effort. Since then, low cost Xanthomonas wilt management technologies have been developed by research institutions within and outside the region but transferring the technologies to the affected and threatened farmers remained a major challenge, largely due to insufficient resources.

With the financial support from the Crop Crisis Control Programme ( C3P) and the approval of the sub-project: “Strengthening the capacity of regional National Agricultural Research System (NARS) to sustainably manage the out break of the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas”, a training programme was instituted that envisaged three tiers. The training adopted an onion peel approach, whereby the technical NARS leaders from research, extension and policy organisations from government and non-governmental organisations were given a broad and deep technical course (Tier1), covering banana biology, integrated pest and disease management, in addition to Xanthomonas wilt epidemiology, diagnosis, mechanisms of spread and control. The content was progressively reduced at the subsequent lower tiers namely, tier 2 = national level training of trainers; tier 3 = community-based training of trainers, to field visits demonstrations and drama at the farm level.

Tier 1 training targeted skills for development of national action plans, raising public awareness along the banana production-consumption continuum and mobilisation of institutional platforms to spearhead the drive against the Xanthomonas wilt diease epidemic in the region. At each successive tier level, the curriculum coverage remained the same but the technical content was progressively reduced to ensure that the target stakeholders will be able to play their roles in a concerted effort to control the disease. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa At the centre of the training were specific tools that were aimed at assisting the practioners to correctly diagnose (recognise) the disease through disease-specific symptoms; to understand the mechanisms through which the disease moves from one plant to another and from one field to another (so that they can make informed technical decions and actions), and; to effectively control/manage the disease. Nine months after Tier1training, it was not clear how the practioners (extension, research, NGOs) were faring with the tools and skills imparted through the different tier trainings. What lessons and experiences had the practioners picked up as they applied the tools? What worked well and what did not? What improvements and/or modifications could be made to strengthen the control measures at the farm and other levels? In order to answer these questions effectively, the participants of the Tier 1 training were invited to the Kigali workshop, along with project collaborators to exchange ideas and share experiences with regard to the use of the disseminated diagnostic and management tools.

The Kigali workshop

The overall objective of the workshop was to strengthen the capacity of regional NARS to sustainably manage the out break of the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas in east and central Africa. It was organised as part of the continuous training of NARS staff involved in the control/management of Xanthomonas wilt disease of bananas, with emphasis on sharing experiences, identifying capacity shortfalls and/or strengths in the application of disease management tools so as to develop corrective measures in the protocols disseminated to address the epidemic. For this reason, many of the resource persons that had facilitated the regional training of trainers (Tier 1) were invited to present case study reports covering the same topics as were covered in Tier1 ToT, October, 2006.

The diagnostic and management guide (containing the tools) formed the basis for the discussions by teams that were using it in the field. National level reports on Xanthomonas wilt management were presented and discussed and on-farm demonstration of the use of the tools were organised for participants who had opportunities to exchange ideas with farmers. The specific objectives were:

(a) provide updates on the implementation (tools and skills) of the management options and current status of Xanthomonas wilt in ECA; (b) identify best practices and develop up/out scaling strategies for the management of Xw in ECA; (c) develop mechanisms/approaches for identifying lessons learnt and sharing information; and (d) prepare and disseminate workshop proceedings.

Organisation and approaches

Workshop objectives were presented and discussed to ensure that all participants were at the same level of understanding of what the meeting was about. This was followed by the country presentations on the activities carried out since Tier1 training, high-lighting how the tools were used in addition to the ease of application and the effectiveness against the target disease. The workshop then discussed case studies that further highlighted the use of the tools at farm level. These case study reports also brought out the specific agro-ecological and socioeconomic situations where the tools were used.

- 2 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa In order to harmonize the evaluation of the tools, participants developed tools (criteria) for quantitatively comparing the various tools employed and subsequently applied the criteria on the diagnostic and management tools employed against the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas. This effectively resulted into selection of the best practices that the workshop would consider scaling up and out. The results of the evaluation were discussed in plenary.

As part of the workshop, the participants had a field trip to Rubavu district which, at the time was under the epidemic and farmers had been mobilised in a food-for-work arrangement to control the disease through the destruction of infected plant materials. This provided an opportunity for the participants not only to observe the tools in action but also to interact with farmers directly involved in action. The field trip was subsequently reviewed in plenary and recommendations for changes and improvements made to the team in Rwanda. The final plenary session discussed workshop recommendations and agreements for the way forward.

Xanthomonas wilt management in Burundi

C. Niyongere1, S. Hakizimana2 and S. Nshimirimana3 1Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Burundi (ISABU), B.P 795, Bujumbura, Burundi 2Institute de Recherche Agronomique et Zootechnique de la CEPGEL (IRAZ), B.P 91, Gitega, Burundi 3Crop Crisis Control Project Catholic Relief Services, B.P 665, Bujumbura, Burundi

Introduction

Banana alongside other staple crops constitutes a major staple food for the majority of households in Burundi with an estimated consumption of 300 kg per person/per year (IRAZ, 2006). In terms of area under banana, the crop is mainly grown in mixtures with other plants and is estimated to occupy more than 25% of agricultural land (IRAZ). The major types of bananas in Burundi are Kayinja and Matoke mainly found in low land areas along Rusizi river and Lake Tanganika and high lands (1200-1800m altitude), respectively.

Banana is the main cash crop for the majority of Burundi households. It has been estimated that a hectare of banana earns 2-3 times more than a hectare of coffee (Oxfam G.B, 2003). Banana production is estimated at 1,549,164 tones per year making banana the crop produced in the highest volume. This accounts for about 40% of total food production and 15% of Burundi’s GDP (Swennen, 1993). Beside nutritional and economic roles at national and household levels, banana plays an important role in environmental protection through preventing soil erosion. However, banana is threatened by various diseases including Xanthomonas wilt.

Xanthomonas wilt status in Burundi

Awareness activities on Banana Xanthomonas wilt was first carried out in Burundi in 2003 when it was confirmed in neighbouring Great lakes Countries. In November 2006, suspicious symptoms were observed in Burundi and this caused considerable anxiety because of the anticipated negative effects on the livelihood security in Burundi as the crop is the most important food/cash crop. The samples were sent in June 2007 to CABI and Ohio State University laboratories for diagnosis, and results from these laboratories are awaited.

Actions undertaken with use of the management tools

Sensitization efforts

Several approaches and tools have been employed to create and increase awareness on the disease. Below these are outlined and discussed. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Correspondences

In 2003 IRAZ sent sensitizing correspondences to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, FAO and the ISABU on the threat of the new disease in the East African great lakes region.

Radio broadcasts

IRAZ made several broadcasts on the national and private Radios (Bonesha, Isanganiro, CCIB FM+, African Public Radio (RPA), Radio Maria Burundi, and Radio ONUB) to sensitize the public about the devastating disease on bananas.

Newspapers

Use was made of the newspaper media to highlight the disease threat and actions that need to be undertaken- IRINews, the Burundian press agency (ABP) and the Agriculture Ministry journal were targeted with information about Xanthomonas wilt.

Leaflets

IRAZ has produced the leaflets for Provincial Agriculture and Livestock departments in 9 provinces bordering neighbours countries: Bujumbura, Bubanza, Cibitoke, Kayanza, Ngozi, Kirundo, Muyinga, Rutana and Makamba. The major concern was to avoid the entry of the disease through these frontier provinces. More than 500 leaflets were produced, with the support of FAO and other UN agency programs in French and Kirundi. These leaflets were distributed up to the commune level.

Trainings

IRAZ in collaboration with CRS (C3P) organized a national workshop in December 2006 on Xanthomonas wilt. Training was given to the majority of the stakeholders such as Agriculture and Livestock provincial services and NGOs. In total 52 units were trained and a field trip was done to Kabezi and Cibitoke in order to learn how to differentiate Xanthomonas from Fusarium wilt.

Recently, more than 120 agriculture extensionists at commune level were trained in BXW management and more than 2400 posters were distributed in collaboration with Bioversity International. At that time, participants agreed on working groups in their respective areas.

Challenges

1. Xanthomonas wilt diagnosis

Burundi bananas have a lot of diseases as pointed out above. Among these is Fusarium wilt, a disease difficult to differentiate from Xanthomonas wilt especially based on external symptoms.

- 5 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa 2. Difficulty in substituting banana

Banana crop as cash and staple crop is difficult to substitute. The other potential substitution crops generate much lower incomes compared to banana. This makes it difficult to convince farmers to change the crop as the change would threaten their food security and livelihoods.

3. Absence of resistant varieties

This complicates the implementation of the “uprooting of infected banana” as a management tool because farmers do not have better cultivars with which to replace the diseased plantations.

4. Limited funding opportunity for training and surveillance

Training and surveillance activities need a lot of financial resources which are lacking. With the exception of some NGOs, no other institutions have funds for activities to control Xanthomonas wilt in Burundi.

Coordination and policy making

At the national level no one institution is specifically mandated and financed to lead/coordinate the fight against Xanthomonas wilt of bananas.

What next?

• Development and dissemination of communication tools in local language • Training of 2580 farmers and CBOs at village level • Establishment of task forces at grass root level • Farmers’ sensitization for banana integrated diseases and pests management • Reinforcement of surveillance teams.

Xanthomonas wilt management in the Democratic Republic of Congo

L. Ndungo Vigheri1 and X. Phemba Phezo2 1Graben University, Butembo, BP 29, Butembo, Nord-Kivu, DR Congo 2 Crop Crisis Control Project, Catholic Relief Service (CRS), Bukavu, DR Congo’

Introduction

Banana is the second most important food crop in the DRC, after cassava and the most important in the eastern part of the country, in terms of production, acreage and income. The crop is attacked by a number of pests and diseases, including weevils, nematodes, fusarium wilt and a host of leaf spot diseases. In general farmers have successfully employed cultural practices to manage these stresses though productivity remains low. With the arrival of the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas, however, whole gardens have been wiped out by the disease, especially in the lowland areas of eastern Congo. It has been estimated that the region is losing up to US$ 1600 per ha per year since 2001. About 20,000 km2 in eastern Congolese province of North Kivu have been affected and more land is being captured by the disease.

In 2004, the focus of the control measures centred on identification studies, along with epidemiological /etiological investigations, led by UCG, FAO, EG Consulting and Bioversity International. The studies led to the development of the disease map (Fig. 1), which helped the process of targeting control measures.

On the ground (Fig. 1), the disease started around Lake Bwere, which became the epicenter or Zone 1 and is currently the endemic region.

In 2005, in the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru, 100 ha of infected banana were up-rooted and the land planted with maize, beans, sorghum, sugar cane and sweet potato. At the same time, 100 extension staff and 1000 farmers were trained in the skills for the recognition and control of the disease. Lessons learnt here were repeated when the disease was discovered in the territory of Beni.

In 2006, with the support of the Crop Crisis Control project (C3P), through the food for work (FFW) arrangement, 200 ha of bananas were uprooted, 300 extensionsts and 4000 farmers trained on techniques for the management of the disease. In addition, efforts were made to raise public awareness and in this regard, 200 C3P pens, 500 T-shirts, 700 caps, 2000 calicots and 160 posters were made and disseminated to the public.

In 2007, 84 technicians were trained at Goma and Beni by a combined team from UCG, Bioversity International, CRS and INERA-Mulungu. Policy makers and opinion leaders (public administration, churches, local and international NGOs) were targeted with leaflets, pamphlets, Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

Zone 4 BWERE (epicentre)

Frontline of the epidemic

3 Epidemic area

2 1 Endemic area

4 Threatned area (medium term)

Figure 1: Areas affected by Xanthomonas wilt in Masisi and Rutshuru Territories of North Kivu, DR Congo. brochures, posters and billboards. Twenty thousand leaflets and 8000 posters, 40 radio talk shows, 540, village meetings, and 8 conferences were organized to disseminate information as part of the awareness-raising efforts. In addition, there were a number of innovative approaches to reach the wider public through church meetings, market places, schools and other informal gatherings in order to pass a word around about the disease.

Management activities and tools used

Posters, brochures, leaftlets and billboards, among other tools, were used in training workshops, market places and churches; and distributed in policy and teaching organizations. The emphasis

- 8 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa was on arresting the the spread of the epidemic by debudding, use of sterile tools and the destruction of infected banana material. The use of clean planting materials was hampered by the lack of the materials.

It must be understood that the high rate of debudding in the highlands is due to traditional practices that are aimed at improving bunch characteristics and not necessarily at Xanthomonas wilt of banana. Conversely, in the low lands, the predominant cultivar is Bluggoe (ABB) locally known as Kisubi; this must be debudded to arrest the spread of the disease. In oder to oversee the implementation and use of the tools, task forces made up of brigadiers were formed at the village levels. Taskforce meetings were held every week to review progress.

Challenges

The major challenges included:

(a) More than 16,500 Km2 of infected area over a radius of almost 800 km, requiring a lot of funds to manage; (b) Existence of some farmers with large areas (6 - 10 ha per farmer) where the management is not good. For instance there were cases of up to 18 - 20 plants mat-1 which makes uprooting difficult; (c) A large number of absentee farmers leading field owners to hesitate to uproot infected mats; (d) Many farmers do not like to be involved to the Xanthomonas wilt control but no bye-laws are yet in place to overcome this; and (e) Cross-border interaction to manage Xanthomonas wilt yet to be set in motion.

Management of Xanthomonas wilt banana and enset in Ethiopia

Fikre Handoro Agricultural Research Centre, P.O. Box 06 Awassa, Ethiopia E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

Banana is the staple food of millions of people in Ethiopia and an income security crop for the millions of farmers in major growing areas of the country. It is produced throughout the country mainly at low to mid altitudes where there is adequate rainfall and/or irrigation facilities are available. According to Seifu (1996), although it has a great potential as an export commodity, its production is mainly meant for the local market and for home consumption. Farmers eat what they produce and sell most of it (80-90%) at roadsides and local markets all year-round. The dessert type is a popular fruit crop among producers and consumers.

Within Ethiopia, banana is widely produced in traditional agricultural system by small-scale farmers but at the commercial level, the production is limited to state and farmers’ union farms. In smallholder fields, it is planted either as a monoculture (in lowlands) and/or in multiple cropping system together with enset, coffee, sugarcane, and taro. Smallholder farmers usually grow both banana and enset in the same field at mid-altitudes. However, commercial banana growing areas are geographically separated from the enset growing areas, mainly located at lower altitudes.

Although banana can be grown under different agro-climatic zones of low to mid altitudes, luxurious growth is observed at lower altitude where sufficient moisture is available. The major limiting factor to banana production is moisture availability. The current area in Ethiopia planted with banana is estimated to be about 21,938 hectares (Anonymous 2003). The yield and quality of banana in Ethiopia is poor both in farmer and state farms, mainly due to diseases, low level of investment and declining soil fertility. In general inadequate availability of improved technologies has limited successful cultivation of the crop. In particular Xanthomonas wilt disease is the major constraint to production of banana in Ethiopia.

Materials and Methods

A systematic assessment of small-scale farmers’ fields and commercial banana growing areas of southern Ethiopia was carried out during 2006/2007 to establish the status of Xanthomonas wilt of banana and enset. The prevalence of disease was assessed at Shebedino, Aleta- Wondo, Chuko of Sidama zone; Wonago, Cochore of Gedeo zone; Amaro, Konso, Derashe special woredas; Arbaminch, Gofa, Abaya of Gamo Gofa zone; Boloso Sore, Humbo of Wolaita Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa zone, Hadero, Kedida Gamela of Kembata-Timbaro zone; Shone (Hadiya) and Egua (Gurage) areas where the altitudes range from 1200 to 2210m. At least 3-5 fields were selected randomly and the disease occurrence recorded. A total of 56 fields were visited and assessed.

Results and Discussion

The results of the assessments are presented in Table 1, which shows that the bacterial wilt disease was present and widely distributed in most of the areas assessed with an infection varying from 5 to 65 per cent, and causing considerable damage to the crop. The highest

Table 1: Bacterial incidence (%) at different locations in SNNPR.

Location Altitude Disease incidence (%)

Aleta-Wondo 1820 5 Shebedino 1760 10 Wonago 1520 17 Cochore 1580 20 Chuko 1850 22 Amaro 1530 65 Konso 1620 - Derashe 1600 - Arbaminch 1200 - Gofa 1300 35 Abaya 1530 - Boloso Sore 1800 21 Humbo 1640 7 Kindo Koisha 1890 5 Hadero 1970 8 Kedida Gamela 2010 5 Badewacho 1990 10 Egua 2210 25 disease incidence of 35 and 65% was observed in Gofa and Amaro districts respectively. The moderate disease infection (15-25%) was recorded in some locations. Incidence was low in, Hadero, Kedida Gamela, Humbo and Badewacho areas and the banana crop in Arbamich, Abaya, and Derashe locations remained free from Xanthomonas wilt disease during 2006/07.

Farmers grow mixed cultivars / varieties to avert risks of disease. During the disease survey, it was observed that the local banana cultivars were severely attacked by bacterial wilt in all locations that were assessed. It was also observed that among the banana varieties, Dwarf Cavendish, which is dominantly grown in Arbaminch and Abaya areas, was not affected under natural conditions. This is in accordance with Temesgen et al. (2004) report, despite the fact that Gizachew (2000) found all banana cultivars including Dwarf Cavandish susceptible to the disease. At mid altitudes, most of enset farmers plant banana as a wind-break crop at boarders and/or intercrop it with enset. In such practices it was observed that Xanthomonas wilt was more common on banana than on enset.

The present assessment suggests that the wilt inoculum has built up in almost all banana growing areas. Various strategies for preventing and/or reducing the inoculum load of the

- 11 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa pathogen have been suggested to minimize the damage caused by Xanthomonas wilt. They include: (i) using only healthy and clean planting materials (suckers or transplants); (ii) applying sanitary control measures (destruction of the diseased plants/debris and sterilization of farming/ pruning tools) (iii) cultural practices including crop rotation, plant spacing and de-budding and (iv) the use of resistant/tolerant varieties. Application of these measures could help in the reduction of pathogen load and the development and spread of the disease. If not controlled quickly, the disease may attain epidemic levels.

Long term sustainable control of the disease will also change in the mindsets of farmers and the extension agents. This could be attained through training and the raising of public awareness about the importance of the disease. Training is a vital input in an extension campaign (mass mobilization), to build up basic knowledge, create awareness, strength the capacity of local partner’s and win community trust and confidence. In the long term, it is necessary to integrate Xanthomonas wilt control in the national and/or regional integrated pest and disease management programmes such as farmer field schools where participatory management approaches involving different service providers share their experiences and knowledge for the control of the disease.

Xanthomonas wilt management in Kenya

S.S.S. Inzaule Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Kakamega, P.O. Box 169 – 50100, Kakamega, Kenya

Introduction

Banana is a major fruit crop in Kenya grown for both subsistence and commercial uses. It is estimated that banana covers 74,000 hectares (about 2% of total arable land), ranging from sea level to about 1800 m above sea level. In terms of production, over 1.5 million tons are obtained per year. Nyanza and western provinces account for 64.4% while Central and Eastern provinces account for 26% of banana production in the country. The rest of the provinces in the country are classified as minor producers, with Rift valley and coast provinces accounting for 3.9%, 5.5% respectively. The crop is normally grown by small-scale farmers. The plant fruits all year round and hence is a continuous source of household food security and income especially for women. The commonly grown varieties are East Africa Highland bananas and apple bananas in Western and Nyanza, Cavendish and Kampala in Central and Eastern provinces.

The major constraints affecting banana production in Kenya includes inadequate clean planting material, low soil fertility, insect pests especially banana weevil and nematodes and diseases mainly fusarium wilts, black sigatoka and of late Xanthomonas wilt. Xanthomonas wilt was first reported in Kenya in 2006 in Teso, Bungoma and Busia districts in western province. In 2007 the disease was also reported in Kakamega and Siaya districts in western and Nyanza provinces respectively (Fig. 1). The most affected varieties include Kayinja (ABB), East Africa Highland banana (AAA), a group of varieties native to the great lake region and important staple food. In order to curtail disease spread and limit its effects on the livelihoods of banana growing communities, a number of actions have been taken. This paper outlines actions taken by Kenya towards the management of banana Xanthomonas wilt.

Capacity building (recognition and control)

A number of scientists from Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Kenya Plant Health Services (KEPHIS) and Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) attended a number of Workshops on Xanthomonas wilt in Uganda and Kenya. In Kenya, a workshop was held in October 2006 at Busia and was attended by the Provincial and District Administrators of Western and Nyanza provinces, all the District Agricultural Officers from western Province, scientists from KARI and KEPHIS as well as NGOs such as REFSO and CRS. Another workshop was held in Busia, and was attended by extension officers from all the divisions in Siaya, Teso and Busia districts, REFSO and some farmers. In all these workshops participants were trained in the use of tools for recognition and management of Xanthomonas wilt. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Figure 1: Map of western Kenya showing Xanthomonas wilt infected areas.

Xanthomonas wilt awareness raising

In order to create Xanthomonas wilt awareness, training of trainers, and stakeholders’ workshops were held, posters and brochures were also disseminated. The trainers of trainers discussed the contruction and use of posters and brochures showing Xanthomonas wilt symptoms and ways of controlling the disease. Subsequently the tools were distributed in all sub locations and pinned on walls in some churches in the province. On all marketing days there was an agricultural officer to distribute the documents and explain the information to people coming to the market. Occasionally news about the diseases was reported in national newspapers.

A wide range of stakeholders have been involved in planning, training and sensitization workshops aimed at raising the awareness about the disease and equipping the public with skills and knowledge for controlling the disease. These stakeholders include public and private agricultural extension staff, NGOs, CBOs, community leaders, education institutions such as universities, colleges, schools, cultural leaders, religious leaders, farmers and administrators.

- 14 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Surveillance: Xanthomonas wilt control

Xanthomonas wilt was first reported in Kenya in the year 2006 in Bungoma, Teso and Busia districts and of late in Kakamega and Siaya districts. The disease is increasing very fast. In Teso districts alone, it, has already destroyed 70% of the banana stand. Posters on how to identify and control Xw are being distributed at village level. A task force has been formed in each of the villages in Teso which monitors the disease spread and reinforce the destruction of infected plantations. By August 2007, two baseline surveys have been done to monitor the spread of the disease and effect control measures.

Action plan at different levels

A coordination system for Xanthomonas wilt management has been formed at provincial, district and village levels in Teso and Busia districts. The personnel involved in this system includes agricultural officers, research officers, farmers, religious leaders and public administrators. The information is passed to farmers through posters, field reports, workshops and visits to individual farmers, field days and group discussions.

Evaluation of the strategies used in wilt management

• Posters have worked very successfully. Their continued dissemination is only limited by funds to print more • Field days and workshops have also been successful tools. The demand of holding field days at village level is very high • Task forces were very successful, but are now at the start of 2007 limited by the lack of funding • Uprooting of diseased material and replanting using clean ones has not been very successful due to lack of funds to purchase clean planting material • Use of public media e.g. Newspapers has not been very successful because of the limitation imposed by the variety of languages in the affected areas.

Conclusion

It is evident that Xanthomonas wilt is in Kenya and is spreading very first. This is a result of the nature of the disease and a variety of vectors for the dissease. It is also spreading fast due to the continued use of un-healthy planting materials because of inadequate clean planting materials. It should be emphasised that there is need to have more training on disease symptoms and control and form more taskforces at village level.

Xanthomonas wilt management in Rwanda

C. Murekezi1,2 1International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, P. O. Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda 2 Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR), P. O. Box 138, Butare, Rwanda

Introduction

Banana is an important crop in Rwanda. It occupies 23% of all arable land in Rwanda, and annually produces 2.4 million metric for food and cash income for producers; it is, therefore, an important livelihood crop. However, banana crop faces several constraints that include declining soil fertility, water stress, poor crop husbandry, socio economic and market constraints, limited post-harvest utilisation options, pests (nematodes and nematodes), diseases (Sigatoka, Fusarium wilt, and Banana streak virus, Banana bunchy top disease). The most worrying, however, is banana Xanthomonas wilt (XW) caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum.

Xanthomonas wilt was first reported in May 2005 in Rubavu, Rugerero and Nyundo sectors in Rubavu district, in Western Rwanda. However, according to farmers, in these areas, symptoms of Xanthomonas wilt on bananas date back to 2002. Subsequently, the wilt has progressively spread to other areas. For example, a survey conducted in August 2006 confirmed the disease in 6 sectors in Rubavu and 2 sectors in Rulindo (Gaidashova and Muhinyuza, 2006). A year later, another survey revealed that the 2006 disease map had changed to 8 sectors in Rubavu and 3 sectors in Rutsiro in addition to the 2 sectors in Rulindo (Fig. 1) (IITA, 2007).

Following the confirmation of the outbreak of disease in May 2005, a control initiative was instituted. This benefited from the Xanthomonas wilt regional strategy that had been commissioned in February 2005 (Karamura et al., 2006). The Xanthomonas wilt control initiative was spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) and the efforts carried out so far could be categorised into the following themes: Capacity building and raising awareness, control measures and action plans.

This paper discusses the different approaches currently being used in Rwanda to control XW. Challenges that hinder the efforts to combat the disease are also discussed.

Capacity building and raising awareness

As soon as Xanthomonas wilt was detection in Rwanda, MINAGRI instituted a National Task Force (NTF) to combat the disease. The NTF drew up a Xanthomonas wilt management strategy, the elements of which included: raising awareness, eradication of infected plants, dissemination of control measures and local quarantine. Meanwhile, in September 2005, samples Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa a b

Figure 1: Distribution of Xanthomonas wilt of bananas in Rwanda; (a) location of disease in relation the whole country; and (b) distribution of xanthomonas wilt in Rubavu and Rutsiro. were sent to CABI-UK for pathogen identification, which confirmed the causal organism of the disease outbreak as Xathomonas campestris pv. musacearum.

At the onset, the Rwanda Agricultural Development Agency (RADA) and Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR) spearheaded Xanthomonas wilt control efforts. Staff from these institutions conducted awareness campaigns on on the disease and its control in three affected sectors of Rubavu district, between June and December 2005. They mobilised extension agents and communities into action against the disease through sensitisation and awareness creation meetings and equipped extension agents to lead Xanthomonas wilt control efforts. In addition, the raising of awareness of the public was conducted through radio and television messages, and dissemination materials (posters and pamphlets).

From July 2006, the Crop Crisis Control project (C3P) implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) led the Xanthomonas wilt control efforts in Rubavu. In September 2006, C3P supported the training of a team on macro-propagation techniques conducted in Uganda. This was to enable them to utilise and disseminate the macro-propagation technology for the production of clean planting material for farmers wishing to replant bananas after eradicating the disease from their fields. Further, a team comprising members from CRS, ISAR and RADA, who were leading the C3P Xanthomonas wilt control effort, in Rubavu, participated in a training workshop on strengthening the capacity of stakeholders in the East and Central region to manage Xanthomonas wilt sustainably. This workshop also took place in Uganda in October 2006.

Subsequently, within Rwanda, two training of trainers’ sessions were held in Rubavu. The first was a training of trainers’ seminar held in November 2006. It was a two day seminar in which some farmers affected by Xanthomonas wilt and agricultural extension officers from Rubavu were trained on the disease and its control. The second training of trainers’ workshop was held in June 2007. Participants included agricultural extension officers and some farmer organisation representatives from all banana producing areas in Rwanda. During this second training, participants were equipped with knowledge and skills on banana in addition to - 17 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Xanthomonas wilt and its control. Participants also drew action plans for awareness creation in their districts. They also drew plans to initiate the formation of task forces and surveillance teams to take the lead in containing and/or preventing the disease in endemic as well as in the disease-free areas.

ISAR and RADA developed posters, pamphlets and training material on Xanthomonas wilt with funding from C3P and technical assistance from Bioversity International. These materials were distributed to participants of the June 2007, training of trainers’ workshop to assist them in raising awareness and training farmers on disease control. C3P also funded a public awareness campaign on Xanthomonas wilt through radio talk shows and awareness messages aired on Radio Rwanda and a local radio station in Rubavu.

Xanthomonas wilt Action plan

A comprehensive National Action Plan to combat Xanthomonas wilt was drafted by MINAGRI to control Xanthomonas wilt in a sustainable manner. This current strategy was drawn from success and experiences that partners in the East and Central African region have had in containing the disease. This action plan emphasises a multi-sectoral and stakeholder participation in the control of Xanthomonas wilt. It focuses on the empowerment of local governments and farming communities to take ownership of Xanthomonas wilt control. Specifically, the control initiative advocates that districts, sectors, cellules and villages draw their own action plans to manage the diseases at their respective levels.

Control measures

During the period July – September 2005, communities were mobilised to contain the Xanthomonas wilt outbreak and one of the major activities carried out was the selective uprooting of infected bananas in farmers’ fields. This was coordinated by the agricultural extension officers. From November 2005 to July 2006, uprooting of infected plants on their own. This was done in the community framework, which is done on a specific day each month (“Umuganda”). In April 2006, an outbreak occurred in Nyarangarama in Rulindo district. This outbreak was close to a banana beverage industry. The source of the outbreak is speculated to originate from Rubavu and/or the DRC. This initial outbreak was eradicated, but there is currently a new outbreak in the same area.

In October 2006, under C3P, CRS and RADA led an eradication campaign of infected plants in the six sectors of Rubavu. Initially, an evaluation was carried out which confirmed that 1291 households with 329.7 hectares had been affected by the disease. The eradication effort used the principle of food for work (FFW) and fourty three teams of farm households were drafted to perform this task. From October to December 2006, the food for work teams carried out selective uprooting of Xanthomonas wilt-infected plants on 51.3 hectares. Shortly, it was observed that after selective uprooting Xanthomonas wilt symptoms continued to appear in farms where uprooting had been carried out. Therefore, systematic eradication of Xanthomonas wilt infected fields was adopted. Between January and June 2007, 278.4 hectares of banana fields with infected banana were systematically eradicated. The food for work scheme ended in July 2007. Even with systematic eradication, farmers reported the Xanthomonas wilt continued to spread and was not contained. This was attributed to the fact that uprooting had not been done systematically and farmers did not adhere to control measures especially the sterilization of farm tools after use in infected fields.

- 18 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Disease surveillance

Disease surveillance was carried out in the form of two surveys and informal reports were produced. In August 2006, a team of ISAR scientists carried out a survey to establish the extent of Xanthomonas wilt in and around the areas it was first reported (Gaidashova and Muhinyuza, 2006). The disease was found in six sectors of Rubavu (Rugerero, Nyundo, Cyanzarwe, Nyamyumba, Nyakiriba and Rubavu) and in two sectors of Rulindo district (Bushoki and Base). In this survey, it was established that farmers were aware of the disease, but adoption of control measures was very low. The spread of XW was noted to be mainly through unsterilised implements and tools.

In January 2007, IITA and ISAR scientists conducted a survey in major banana growing areas in the country and the disease was confirmed in eight sectors of Rubavu district. These included Rubavu, Rugerero, Nyundo, Nyamyumba, Nyakiriba, Cyanzarwe, Kanama and Busasamana, two sectors in Rulindo (Bushoki and Base) and three sectors in Rutsiro district (Kigeyo, Kivumu and Nyabirasi). It was established that Rubavu had the highest incidence of the disease where 61.5% of farms sampled had Xanthomonas wilt with individual farms registering up to 86% incidence. Districts without the disease but were at the greatest risk were noted as Nyamasheke and Karongi to south, and Nyabilu and Ngororero to north. There were unconfirmed reports that the disease symptoms had been sighted in the neighbouring districts of Karongi and Ngororero.

Challenges

A number of challenges were noted through the surveys and/or through the technical reports of ISAR and RADA teams. These included:

(a) The control strategies carried out against Xanthomonas wilt to date had produced partial success and the disease had continued to spread. This was due to the fact that Xanthomonas wilt problem has not been fully owned by the farmers and that all control measures have not been widely adopted. In most places, emphasis was placed on destruction of infected plant material to the general neglect of debudding, sterilisation of implements and tools and strengthening of institutional frameworks that facilitate resource mobilization against the epidemic.

(b) There was a widely held perception that complete uprooting of bananas in fields with Xanthomonas wilt infection should be the control measure of choice. This measure was, therefore, being largely recommended over the other control measures. Farm households in Rubavu where complete uprooting had been carried out were facing food insecurity and there was considerable soil erosion, especially where bananas were removed from hilly terrain. Moreover, farmers lacked seeds of alternative crops and the opportunities for alternative enterprises were very limited. However, as a coping mechanism to the Xanthomonas wilt epidemic, a few innovative farmers, whose banana fields were completely eradicated, have began replanting with symptomless plants from around their homesteads and adhering to routine cleaning/ disinfecting of cutting tools, debudding and selectively uprooting plants that show Xanthomonas wilt symptoms. The results of their efforts were encouraging and would act as a demonstration to other farmers that the disease was manageable.

- 19 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa (c) At the time of the Kigali workshop, there was lack of a system to produce clean planting material for farmers whose fields were completely uprooted, but efforts were underway by C3P to disseminate the macro-propagation technology to farmers in Rubvau to produce planting material.

(d) None of the banana cultivars in Rwanda were tolerant to Xanthomonas wilt. Tolerance or resistance was considered the most cost-effective measure to control the disease and Rwanda considered it imperative and argued ISAR to participate in regional efforts to develop banana resistant to Xanthomonas wilt.

(e) Some challenges call for research input, for example: (i) determining the cut-off incidence level at which complete uprooting of Xanthomonas wilt-infected fields is preferred to selective uprooting; (ii) developing a practical method of uprooting and destruction of debris of disease plants to prevent them re-sprouting and acting as an inoculum source; (iii) establishing whether crops/ weeds associated with banana culture or those grown as break crops are alternative hosts to the Xanthomonas wilt pathogen; and (iv) determining the persistence of the pathogen in soil under Rwandese conditions.

(f) The research capacity to deal with the challenges of Xanthomonas wilt needs strengthening. It would be necessary for scientists from Rwanda to acquire short and specialised training to build the research capacity in Xanthomonas wilt.

Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in Tanzania

S.S. Mgenzi Byabachwezi Agriculture Research and Development Institute – Maruku, P.O.Box 16 or 127, Bukoba, Tanzania Email:[email protected]

Introduction

Banana is among the key crops for food security and income in Tanzania. In the Kagera region of North West Tanzania, banana is the staple food for an estimated 95% of the population and the crop ranks second to coffee in income generation. In spite of this importance, banana production in Kagera has been on the decline with an estimated fall of 45% between1970 to 1990. The main reasons for the decline are increasing infestation by banana nematodes and weevils, declining soil fertility and poor crop husbandry. Other reasons for the decline include unfavourable marketing networks, traditional norms and attitudes, land tenure system, inputs distribution system, and inadequate research and extension efforts. Presently, Xanthomonas wilt is the most serious threat to sustainable banana production and utilisation in Tanzania. The first outbreak of the disease was reported in the Kagera region in early 2006 (Mgenzi et al., 2006). In spite of concerted efforts to raise awareness and train stakeholders on methods for disease control, the pandemic has continued to expand within and beyond the Kagera region (Fig. 1).

Since Xanthomonas wilt was first identified in Muleba, District Kagera region, in January 2006, the disease has been reported in Bukoba, Karagwe, Biharamulo and Tarime District in Mara region (Mgenzi et al., 2006). From the affected areas in the Kagera region, about 120,000 banana mats have been uprooted (approximately 120 ha of banana). In Tarime, the disease was confirmed in February 2007 and about 600 mats of bananas were uprooted (Mgenzi and Marandu, 2007). Considering that under normal circumstances each mat produce 2.5 bunches in one year, one bunch is sold on average of Tanzania Shillings (TZS) 2500, affected banana mats in Kagera represents the loss of TZS 750,000,000 (app. US$ 595,238) in one year. While in Tarime, the loss of TZS 3,750,000 (app. US$ 2,976) has been realized in just one sub-village. The latest reported outbreak of Xanthomonas wilt was in March, 2007 in Mugajwale village, Bukoba District.

Following the outbreak of the disease in several actors responded early 2006 to ensure the disease is halted. These include the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Cooperatives of Tanzania (ARDI Maruku and the Department Plant Health Services), Bioversity International EG Consulting, Global Plant Clinic (GPC), Crop Science Laboratory (CSL) of UK and currently C3P. In the endeavor to control the disease, we recognize the support from Bioversity International (formerly INIBAP), IITA, the Banana Programme of Kawanda Agriculture Research Institute (KARI-Uganda). Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Source: Maina et al. (2007)

Figure 1: Areas affected by Banana Xanthomonas wilt in Kagera and Kigoma regions of Tanzania.

To achieve the objectives of halting the disease, the following activities were carried out largely within the framework of C3P:

(a) Capacity building

Since the disease was new in all areas, capacity building was comprehensive starting with researchers and officials from the Plant Health Department, followed by senior district agriculture extension staff, other agriculture extension staff and ultimately farmers. Because of limited funding, there were still gaps on the number of trained agriculture extension staff and farmers.

- 22 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa However, under C3P, more agriculture extension staff and farmers were trained in all districts of the region as shown in Table 1.

(b) Awareness creation

It was already known from technical reports about the disease that the Xanthomonas wilt pathogen is a short-lived when out of its host and, therefore, easy to manage if recommendations were adhered to. Thus, every effort was made to equip the stakeholders along the production- consumption pipeline with knowledge and skills for recognition and management of the disease. Through the use of extension materials, radio and television programmes, it was estimated that more than 20% of Kagera farmers became aware aware of Xanthomonas wilt in terms of the symptoms and control. It is common that there are minimal detrashing and deleafing and frequent removal of male buds. However, there was some negligence on the part of some farmers to avoid the use of contaminated tools from traders. This was confirmed by type of

Table 1: Training of stakeholders in skills and tools for the control of Xanthomonas wilt.

Project Category No. of Facilitators participants

Ministry of Agriculture, Researchers (ARDI 2 KARI Food and Cooperatives Maruku)

Plant Health Service 3 KARI, Maruku ARDI Staff (PHS)

Farmers (Kagera) 2400 Maruku ARDI, PHS

EG Consulting funded Extension Staff (Kagera) 50 Maruku ARDI, Bioversity by DFID through CPP International, KARI

GPC and CSL of UK Researchers on “going 9 GPC and CSL public” approach

District Councils in Senior extension staff 7 KARI, Bioversity Kagera region International

C3P Scientists on ToT 5 Bioversity International, IITA program

Technicians on banana 3 IITA macropropagation Local leaders (Kagera) 30 Maruku ARDI, Bioversity International Extension staff (Kagera) 30 Maruku ARDI, Bioversity International Farmers (Kagera) 435 Extension staff, Maruku ARDI Extension staff (Tarime 22 Maruku ARDI, Bioversity District) International, IITA Farmers (Tarime District) 62 Maruku ARDI, Bioversity International, IITA

- 23 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa symptoms (in the new areas) which were dominated by leaf infections on the plants without bunches.

Surveillance activities involved sensitisation of stakeholders at different levels. Before the out-break of the disease, leaflets and posters were made to create awareness of Xanthomonas wilt. This involved the central and local governments and community leaders. At the village level, sensitisation involved meetings with farmers of the villages and providing them with leaflets about the disease. The central government imposed a quarantine to minimise the movement of infected plant material within and between regions and between Tanzania and her neighbours. After the out-break of the disease at the district level, each district was imposing local quarantine to infected areas.

(d) Action plans at different levels

To ensure that there was effective control of Xanthomonas wilt, task forces at different levels were formed. The role of each task force varied with the level. For example, the task force at the regional level dealt with all disasters whether on crops, livestock or human beings. The Xanthomonas wilt threat was similarly handled. The most effective task forces were those at the village levels. They were formed in respect of monitoring Xanthomonas wilt outbreak, reporting to extension staff and/or researchers and mobilizing farmers to uproot infected plants.

(e) Challenges

The disease outbreak was not easy to predict and new outbreaks were noted in distant villages away from the outbreak villages. It was noted that the major means of Xanthomonas wilt spread was through farm tools, especially amomg farmers with sufficient knowledge of the disease. This was attributed to the methods recommended for decontaminating tools which farmers deemed inconvenient.

Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in Uganda

W.K. Tushemereirwe1, J. Kubiriba1, C. Nankinga1, M. Masanza1, J. Muhangi1, F. Ssekiwoko1 and E. Karamura2 1National Agricultural Research Organisation, P.O. Box 295, Entebbe, Uganda 2Bioversity International, P. O. Box 24384, Kampala, Uganda

Introduction

The banana bacterial wilt (also known as the banana Xanthomonas wilt or Xanthomonas wilt of bananas) was first reported in Mukono and Kayunga districts of Uganda (Tushemereirwe et al., 2004). It was later confirmed to be caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv musacearum (CABI, 2001). It was also noted that the disease was fast spreading both within affected plantations and across banana growing areas. The disease appeared extremely devastating and if not controlled appeared to have a potential to completely wipe out the banana industry in Uganda. In response to the outbreak of Xanthomonas wilt, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) constituted a task force in December 2001 to develop a strategy to eradicate the disease. The strategy emphasized massive creation of awareness as well as measures aimed at eradication of the disease (cutting and burying infected banana stools, quarantine, decapitation of male buds to block further transmission by insects and disinfection of farm tools used in the affected fields). These measures were effective and reduced disease incidence to below 10% per year but could unfortunately not be sustained due to high implementation costs. The disease was spreading fast thus necessitating a change of objectives from eradication to “contain and manage the spread”.

The national action plan

The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) was directed to constitute another taskforce to formulate a comprehensive research and development strategy and action plan to contain and manage the disease. The strategy developed contributed to the national goal of increasing and sustaining food security and incomes of banana producers and consumers through control of banana bacterial wilt. This goal would be achieved through implementation of the following set of activities:

1. Establishing the current status of Xanthomonas wilt. 2. Generating information on etiology and epidemiology of Xanthomonas wilt. 3. Developing appropriate technologies for management of Xanthomonas wilt disease. 4. Disseminating appropriate technologies and information for containing and controlling Xanthomonas wilt. 5. Developing capacity for research and development for Xanthomonas wilt control. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa 6. Developing and improving appropriate policies for management of pest and disease epidemics. 7. Identifying and promoting alternative enterprises as a safety-first fallback option for farmers overwhelmed by Xanthomonas wilt. 8. Evaluating impact of research and development on Xanthomonas wilt.

Implementation structure

In 2004, MAAIF identified NARO as the institution to coordinate other MAAIF programmes and partners that would be involved in implementation of the strategy and put in place a coordination mechanism. This involved a Steering Committee (also serving as a National Task Force), a Technical Committee and a National Coordination office. The Steering Committee composed of Policy personnel from MAAIF, NARO, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, Local Governments, Makerere University and Farmers (Uganda National Farmers Federation) was tasked to serve as the topmost organ overseeing implementation of the strategy and providing/coordinating policy guidance. A technical committee comprising of scientists drawn from MAAIF, NARO, Makerere University, local government and international agricultural research institutions such as Bioversity International (formerly International Network for Improvement of Banana and Plantain) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; was appointed and charged with the task of giving technical guidance to implementation of the strategy, under the National Banana Bacterial Wilt Control Initiative (NBBWCI). The NBBWCl was charged with the responsibility to ensure that all institutions, which have the banana crop in their activity portfolio, integrate Xanthomonas wilt control activities in their action plans. To strengthen coordination and monitoring of the Xanthomonas wilt control activities as defined in the strategy, a system of task forces was provided for at various local government levels. It was envisaged that the entire coordination/collaboration work on Xanthomonas wilt would be executed as a chain right from the National Steering Committee (=National Task Force as the apex) to the farming communities in villages through a system of task forces- at the district, sub-county, parish and finally village levels. The task forces at each level would oversee Xanthomonas wilt control activities in the respective units. The technical guidance at district, sub-county, parish and village levels would be coordinated by public extension staff in collaboration with the respective task forces at the different levels, playing the supportive, monitoring and mobilization roles at their respective levels.

Progress on activities in the Xanthomonas wilt control strategy

Establishing current status of banana bacterial wilt

Information was to be generated on Xanthomonas wilt distribution incidence and severity, economic importance of the disease and priorities for its control. Since the first disease outbreak was reported in Mukono, a disease surveillance and reporting system linked to the national sensitization program was established. The disease was effectively tracked down in GIS-led mapping as it spread across the country. The information guided the targeting of the affected communities with sensitization tools on how to control it. The disease is now confirmed in about 400 subcounties spread across 38 districts (Fig. 1).

In addition to the surveillance studies described earlier, surveys to establish the prevalence and severity of the disease were carried out. Data on disease incidence, disease distribution, banana production and banana prices was used to compute the loss due Xanthomonas wilt by

- 26 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Figure 1: Distribution of banana bacterial wilt in Uganda (June 2007). the sampling time (April 2005). This revealed that the disease caused a loss of 34.3 million US dollars in 2005 (Tables 1 and 2) and this figure was anticipated to double in 2006. Fortunately for the country, the disease started in a region where banana production is low (central and eastern Uganda). The areas in which the disease is fully established (endemic) account for less than 2.0 million metric tones of banana (equivalent to less than 20% of total national banana production) production.

Table 1: Economic loss in US$ due to BBW by April 2005.

Year Matooke Kayinja Annual Total

2002 975,149 241,837 1,216,986 2003 5,406,792 1,222,7015 6,631,496 2004 16,461,201 2,316,637 18,777,839 2005 29,825,900 4,507,569 34,333,469

Cumulative total 52,669,042 8,288,745 60,959,790

- 27 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Table 2: Economic value of bananas in endemic and non-endemic areas in April 2005.

Production Production Value of Value of of matooke of kayinja matooke kayinja (tonnes) (tonnes) (USD) (USD)

Non Endemic areas 7,265,907 694,860 444,027,647 11,967,034 Endemic areas 1,467,809 274,203 89,699,410 4,722,381

Total 8,733,715 969,063 533,727,057 16,689,415

(Note: Other banana cultivars make up for the remaining amount of total production).

A study was conducted to predict the likely impact of the disease on the rural economy in general and the households who depend on banana for their livelihoods by a team led by Bioversity International (Karamura, 2006). Using data obtained from the socio-economic survey that was undertaken in four districts (Mukono, Kayunga, Sironko and Luwero) and secondary production data from MAAIF, a fairly accurate assessment of the impact was made. The findings show that the disease was doing more havoc than previously estimated. For instance, on average about 10-17% of the total banana mats were infected with Xanthomonas wilt per year 2001 between and 2004, giving a total infection (destruction) incidence of 30-52% between those two years in endemic areas. By the end of 2004, per capita consumption of own bananas had declined to about 42% among Xanthomonas wilt infected farm households compared to their non-infected counterparts. Sales of bananas were about three times on average lower among the farm households experiencing the disease. Farm and total household incomes were also on average lower by about 23% and 32% respectively among infected farms.

The study also revealed that participatory sensitisation campaigns against the disease appeared to be paying off, as the proportion of banana mats infected by the disease between 2001 and 2004 was significantly lower by about 13-26% among households in areas where the campaigns have been carried out. Knowledge and practice by farmers who had been sensitized about the disease and its control correlated strongly with reduction in the disease infection. The participatory campaigns have been piloted in 4 out of the 33 affected districts. There is, therefore need to scale them up to cover all affected and threatened districts.

The study further showed that in the absence of intervention, the four sampled districts stood to lose over USD 1,131,432,000 by end of 2010 (Karamura, 2006.) The projection results show that the intervention to control the disease should target 90% and above if the disease is to be effectively controlled. This level of control would reduce the losses to USD 146,946,000 in the same period. The level of implementation of the Xanthomonas wilt control activities is estimated at 25%. This needs to be scaled up to 90% to effectively control the disease.

Generating information on etiology and epidemiology of Xanthomonas wilt

The strategy emphasized giving priority to generation of information that facilitated refinement of the tentative control recommendations. The top-most priority information to be generated included: pathogen variability; most efficient inoculation techniques; modes of disease transmission; survival rates and mechanisms of the pathogen in different mediums; and alternate hosts. Other information to be generated included: determining modes of disease penetration

- 28 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa into the host and disease development; factors affecting disease development; and predisposing factors and their influence on disease development, spread and severity. The BBWCI arranged partnerships with various research institutions (including NARO, Makerere University, IITA, Central Science Laboratories of UK, Bioversity International and CABI) to expedite the information. The information generated so far in this section was packaged and publised as a special issue of the African Crop Science Journal (Tushemereirwe et al., 2006). Efforts were made to secure resources to generate the remaining information.

Developing appropriate technologies for management of banana Xanthomonas wilt

Cultural control

Based on epidemiological information so far generated and other sources from the other regions of the world battling other banana bacterial wilts, a menu of cultural control practices for coping with the disease was put together and/or introduced for testing and evaluation. The menu included: rouging diseased plants and alternate hosts; decontaminating tools used on diseased plants to avoid spreading the disease; decapitating male buds to reduce chances of insect transmission; and restricting movement of banana plant materials from disease areas to disease-free but threatened areas/plantations. It was envisioned that the menu would be continuously evaluated with farmers at various sites in disease-affected areas with an aim to improve their effectiveness.

Development of resistant varieties

The action plan provides for development of banana varieties/genotypes with resistance to the disease as the most effective and long term solution to the problem. Both conventional and non-conventional (genetic engineering) methods are being explored. Two hundred banana varieties assembled in the germplasm collection at Kawanda were evaluated for resistance. Unfortunately all cultivated varieties were susceptible to the disease. However, one wild variety (Musa balbisiana) was found resistant and is being evaluated for potential use as a source of resistance in the breeding programme.

NAR-Uganda / Bioversity International project on genetic transformation of highland banana genotypes with resistance to black sigatoka, weevils and nematodes is also expanding its activities to include Xanthomonas wilt resistance.

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation (GCF) is supporting NARO to access the technology of meristem mediated banana transformation from IITA. This system is currently being refined and is being applied to develop Xanthomonas wilt resistant banana genotypes.

Disseminating appropriate technologies and information for containing and controlling Xanthomonas wilt

The strategy identified sensitization of farmers and their service providers about disease identification, its spread and control it as one of the highest priorities. Sensitisation targeting these two categories has been aggressively pursued. The Xanthomonas wilt initiative is integrating both the conventional and participatory approaches to disseminate information and technologies to the farming communities and mobilising them for effective control of the disease.

- 29 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Conventional sensitization

It involved raising stakeholders’ awareness about the disease and its control through trained extension service providers (district and sub-county levels) and multiple communication channels which included but are not limited to workshops, posters, radio spot messages and talk shows and going public. Preliminary evaluation reports of the sensitization campaign suggested that it was very successful. Over 80% of the banana farming community in affected areas knew how to identify Xanthomonas wilt symptoms, how the disease spreads and how to control it.

Priorities for Xanthomonas wilt control

Based on information from the different surveys and stakeholder consultation workshops, the needs for Xanthomonas wilt control were identified and prioritized. The country was divided into three zones based on the disease status: Disease endemic zone; Frontline zone; and unaffected zone. The needs for Xanthomonas wilt control were then identified and prioritized as follows: a. Protecting unaffected banana growing areas and the crop from Xanthomonas wilt through implementation of disease preventive measures such as removal of male buds and avoiding introducing the disease on tools/plant parts and eliminating disease outbreaks in the zone. Disease control in this zone would be given first priority. Most of these areas are in the south west, southern and eastern parts of Uganda that account for more than 70% of national banana output. b. Halting further progress (or expansion of the endemic zone) of the disease towards the major banana growing areas through intensive implementation of practices that eliminate the disease from affected plantations i.e. roguing affected plants and de-budding the remaining healthy plants and practices that protect unaffected plantations in the zone. This was accorded second priority. c. Enabling farmers in the disease endemic zone to cope with the disease through application practices that eliminate the disease from their plantations and practices that prevent re- infections from the neighbourhood. This was accorded third priority.

Participatory approaches

Whereas the conventional sensitization approach has been instrumental in swiftly raising awareness of stakeholders about the disease across the whole country, it was considered not appropriate for triggering actions aimed at controlling the disease. Most farmers need to be persuaded or compelled to act. An appropriate participatory approach was developed and accordingly deployed for the purpose.

The implementing team chose to deploy the Participatory Development Communication (PDC) approach as adopted from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. This approach centres on facilitating communities to develop action plans to address specific problems facing them (Tushemereirwe et al., 2006). The communities decide on how to implement and monitor their action plans. The role of implementing teams at national level and local governments was then limited to facilitating the communities to regularly review progress and

- 30 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa together chart the way forward. This approach was deployed in all south western areas of Uganda where the Xanthomonas wilt disease had broken out and some frontline areas with astounding success. Over 25 subcounties in the South Western Uganda effectively controlled Xanthomonas wilt (Table 3). Some villages in some affected subcounties in various districts have also effectively controlled Xanthomonas wilt (Table 4). Overall, more than 60% of farms which had Xanthomonas wilt in frontline villages never had the disease three months later (Fig. 2). A small proportion of farmers had effectively controlled Xanthomonas wilt in the frontline areas despite the fact that the BBWCI had the zone as last priority in Xanthomonas wilt control strategy. Most of the Xanthomonas wilt outbreaks in the threatened areas had

Table 3: Level of Xanthomonas wilts control in relatively disease free areas by subcounty.

District Total number of sub- Number of subcounties that counties ever affected effectively controlled XW

Mbarara 7 6 Isingiro 5 4 Kiruhura 1 1 Bushenyi 8 5 Ntungamo 4 3 Kabale 2 1 Kamwenge 1 1 Rukungiri 3 1 Masaka 4 2

Table 4: Level of control of BBW in some villages on frontline areas.

District Sub-county Village No. of farms with No. of farms XW at the peak currently peak of infection infected

Kabarole Hakibale Kyamahoro 10 6 Butiti Kakindo 15 1

Kyenjojo Kihuura Buseiga 10 3

Kiboga Bukomero Mwezi A 160 0 Nakaziba 360 0 Sogolero 130 50 Muwanga Wabinyira 120 20

Mubende Kasambya Kisenyi 35 10 Kisenyi 40 8

Bundibudyo Busaru Busegerwa 107 50 Mbarara Mwizi Rubagano 88 4 Ntungamo Bwongyera Nyamunuka 57 2 Masaka Kyazanga Bijaaba 130 1 Ntungamo Nyakyera Nyakyera 70 15 Rukungiri Kebisoni Kebisoni 10 6

- 31 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

100

80 70

50 40

Proportion of farmers (%) farmers of Proportion 20

0 Mt Elgon Endemic Frontline West of the frontline Epidemic zone

Figure 2: Previously infected farms that have effectively controlled Xw. either been effectively controlled or nearly eradicated Xanthomonas wilt (Fig. 3). In the frontline areas, a few outbreaks were effectively controlled but many outbreaks were either near effective control or Xanthomonas wilt spread has been contained. In few areas on the frontline and most areas in the endemic areas, the disease incidence was still high.

Subsequently BBWCI started scaling out activities conducted under PDC to those areas where Xanthomonas wilt incidence was still high. By 2007, the the level of Xanthomonas wilt incidence in Uganda had been rolled back to level that it was in 2005 (Fig. 4).

Developing capacity for research and development for Xanthomonas wilt control

The strategy provides for development of capacity for R4D for management of Xanthomonas wilt at all levels. The identified activities included: training scientists in specialized skills for handling Xanthomonas wilt training of trainers at district, sub-county and community levels in technologies and participatory approaches and to deploy them; strengthening capacity of farmers’ grass-root institutions to handle Xanthomonas wilt; and developing infrastructure for handling Xanthomonas wilt. In this effort six (6) scientists completed Msc. in specialized skills for handling Xanthomonas wilt and a post doctoral position was created and attached for one year at Central Science Laboratories, York, in UK to develop molecular methods and tools for handling the Xanthomonas wilt pathogen. A molecular tool (PCR-based) for precise identification of the bacteria in the laboratory was developed as a result of this arrangement.

Developing and improving appropriate policies for management of pest and disease epidemics

Three policy activities were identified; i) review of existing phytosanitary policies and development of regulations,ii) bye-laws and quarantine procedures; and iii) developing a policy for mitigating effects of agricultural pests and diseases.

- 32 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Figure 3: Level of Xw control by subcounty in Uganda.

The review of existing phytosanitary policies resulted in the need for the Uganda Government to declare Xanthomonas wilt “a notifiable disease”, which compels all stakeholders to report the disease to appropriate authorities and to abide by and apply the control recommendations to arrest its spread. A draft ordinance based on the crop protection act (1962) to declare the disease notifiable and give a legal framework for formulation and enforcement of bye-laws on its control was cleared by the technical committee. Many local authorities have declared the disease notifiable and developed guidelines for communities to follow when the disease breaks out in their areas.

Secondly the review set in motion the process for the development of a policy on control of plant pest and disease epidemics at a national level but with provision for collaborating with neighbouring counties.

Identifying and promoting alternative enterprises as a safety-first fallback option for farmers overwhelmed by Xanthomonas wilt.

- 33 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Figure 4: Comparison of BXW prevalence in Uganda in 2005 and 2007.

Activities identified included; a) farmer participatory identification of food and cash crops in the short/long run and ii) promotion of identified enterprises; iii) identification and promotion of other types of enterprises. Farmers identified cassava, sweet potatoes and maize as nearest food options. However, a study by Bioversity International (formerly INIBAP) revealed that only 7% of the farmers were intending to replace banana with other crops in the short run but all farmers wished to return to banana production when the disease is brought under control (Karamura, 2006).

Projected activities

1) Protecting unaffected banana growing areas from Xanthomonas wilt through implementation of disease preventive measures (de-budding, avoiding introducing the disease into new areas and eradicating pockets of disease outbreaks) 2) Halting further progress of the disease (from endemic zone) and to ensure that the disease does not take establish in the major banana growing areas through collective implementation of recommendations by the communities across the frontline zone 3) Enabling farmers in affected areas to cope with the disease through dissemination of the control package and rehabilitation/replanting plantations 4) Generating information/technologies to support field efforts for controlling Xanthomonas wilt. 5) Completing development of identified policy activities. 6) Monitoring and evaluating implementation of proposed activities and assessing their impact on Xanthomonas wilt spread.

- 34 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Challenges a) Maintaining/increasing financial input into implementation of the strategy amid changing national and donor priorities is a big challenge. There is an acute shortage of resources to implement the high priority activities on Xanthomonas wilt management b) Maintaining effective team work and coordination amid changing institutional structures and personnel is also another challenge c) Linking national programmes with what is happening in the neighbouring countries to exploit possible synergies.

Acknowledgement

The BBWCI acknowledges with thanks the financial resources from Uganda Government and the development partners namely Gatsby Charitable Foundation, DFID, ASPS (DANIDA), USAID, The Rockefeller Foundation and The IDRC, which supported the reported activities.

Plenary discussions of country updates on XW

Uganda

Q1: Regarding the use of herbicides for infected mat destruction, farmers were not happy with the results of the control method and abandoned it. In Rwanda, mat eradication has been by manual means and this has not been easy. What is your general view about this; could herbicide use be tried in Rwanda?

A1: Farmers complained of removing infected plants by rouging because of being labour intensive in Uganda. Use of herbicides is not labour intensive but there is a need to do a cost- benefit analysis of this recommendation to facilitate informed adoption.

Q2: In areas where infected banana fields have been abandoned, spraying would be better to eradicate the mats. What are advantages or limitations of using herbicides?

A2: On slopes, herbicide use would reduce soil erosion because the stumps would still be lying on the ground.

Q3: How effective is the removal of single plants as compared to removal of the whole mat?

A3: If you remove a single plant which is infected and the infection is from the male bud, it is possible to save suckers. However it is important to do this when infection is still at male bud bracts stage; beyond this it is safer to removal the entire mat. The effectiveness of this technique can be improved if the farmer is following an intense disease surveillance in the farm to be able to pick the symptoms as soon as they appear.

Q4: Have you already determined the pathogen variability?

A4: We have only one strain in Uganda.

Q5: Do you have the economic threshold of using herbicides destroy infected mats? What about potential effects on soil micro- and macro- fauna / flora?

A5: Threshold studies have not yet been conducted and the effects on soil fauna/flora have not been done.

Q6: Are there areas suspected to have been the sources of infection for Uganda?

A6: There is no clear answer for this. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Suplementary answer: The disease was observed both in Uganda and DR Congo in 2001 and Rwanda in 2002. It is thus not possible at this stage to say how the disease came to the region.

Q7: Which variety is more resistant to BXW than others?

A7: There is no resistant (edible) variety/cultivar that is available at the moment.

Rwanda

Q1: What has been the role of task forces since 2005?

A1: Task forces are very important in the coordination of the disease control initiatives. TFs disappeared after restructuring in Rwanda.

Q2: How have been statutory measures working? You can use statutory measures to prevent movement of banana planting material, what about bunches themselves?

A2: Statutory measures could work but need a lot of follow-up by both technical and local authorities.

Q3: What measures are in place to make sure that the current action plans will work?

A3: The original action plan was created as an emergency measure and therefore there is a need for an action plan that is all encompassing to include both cultural and institutional arrangements.

Q 4: What causes farmers’ resistance against adopting control options for BXW in Rwanda?

A4: Could be a lot of things but mostly it is the lack of correct technical and socio-economic information.

Tanzania

Q1: Task forces at village level worked better than at other levels in Tanzania. Are there any policy measures that have come up as a result of this?

A1: No policy yet that has come up as a result of the task force performance at the village level. However, information that could be packaged to develop policy briefs for discussion by different policy groups, is yet to be collected.

Kenya

Q1: According to your survey report, people are already giving information of presence of the disease in Kakamega. Is there any scientist who visited the site to confirm presence of the disease?

A1: I think the disease is confirmed in Kakamega and Siaya districts.

- 37 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Ethiopia

Q1: The data presented suggest that Dwarf Cavendish has some tolerance to XW. What is you comment?

A1: Yes, Dwarf Cavendish has some tolerance to Xanthomonas wilt in the field.

Other comments and concerns:

Comment 1. There is a need for actions/activities to address the epidemic in areas with the disease, and in areas threatened by the disease. The limitation is resources but activities would be conducted in all zones.

Response 1. The regional strategy (Karamura et al., 2006) has identified the three disease typologies- the disease-free but threatened; the frontline areas (where the epidemic has arrived); and the endemic regions where the disease is established. For each typology, the strategy provides the critical technical and institutional arrangements to be put in place to manage the disease.

Comment 2. We should be mindful of the problem of cross-border transmission.

Response 2. This is very important. This is about regional collective action such that actions in one country are re-enforced by all the neighbouring countries. With regard to the movement of bananas between countries: there should be a surveillance framework that would limit the spread of the disease while allowing trade to go on.

Comment 3. Field exchange visits are expensive but very effective in controlling the disease. Because they enhance farmer-to-farmer learning. Participants are able to adapt the technologies to suit the situation when they return to their countries. Linkages created may also be important for future needs.

Case studies on Xanthomonas wilt management

The Crop Crisis Control project (C3P) had no provision for research but was expected to execute control measures which at the initiation of the project were still undergoing evaluation, given that the disease was very new in the region. Moreover, only few countries had the basic infra-structure for research on the disease and where such facilities existed, many of the control measures were still tentative recommendations, needing validation through on farm testing and dissemination. For this reason, in the implementation of the sub project- “Strengthening the capacity of regional NARS to sustainably manage the out break of the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas”, it was considered necessary to develop close linkages with active research institutions such as the National Banana Programme of NARO-Uganda, IITA and Bioversity International within the framework of BARNESA, in order to access information and technologies for controlling the disease in the C3P partner countries.

Hence, for the review meeting in Kigali, a number of scientists were invited to make presentations that would help project participants to gain clarity on the control measures they were applying against the disease. In addition the presentations, would help project participants check their results and/or observations on-farm against the process the research information provided and this would result into healthy interaction between researchers and field practioners from the project. Subsequently, the workshop would use the field applied experience from the project and the research information to evaluate the recommended measures against Xanthomonas wilt (as provided in the Diagnostic and Management Guide) in the quest to develop the best practices for the management of Xanthomonas wilt of banana.

In this regard, presentations were requested from IITA (on Xanthomonas wilt distribution and breeding for resistance); from NARO-Uganda (on epidemiology of the disease and participatory monitoring and evaluation), and from Bioversity Inernational on fine tuning control recommendations for on-farm management of the disease. The case study reports provided the basis for the discussion on the effectiveness of control measures and to explain why some recommendations worked well in on-station trials and failed on farmers’ fields. Proceedings of the workshop on review of the strategy for the management of banana Xanthomonas wilt Printed in Uganda. All rights reserved © 2009, Bioversity International pp. 40 - 44

Distribution of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

G.V. Nakato and Maina Mwangi International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), P. O. Box 7878 Kampala, Uganda.

Introduction

Banana is a major crop for food security and income in the Great Lakes region of east and central Africa (Sharrock and Frison, 1999). In spite of the crop’s importance, production is on the decline with the most serious threat being the Xanthomonas wilt disease of banana. The disease is caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Xcm) and is transmitted by infected plant material, insect vectors and contaminated tools (Biruma et al., 2007). Disease symptoms include yellowing of leaves, premature ripening and discoloration of fruits, and yellow bacterial ooze seen when plant tissues are cut. The disease spreads rapidly, causing total yield loss and no resistant varieties are known in East Africa.

The major challenges to Xanthomonas wilt management have been lack of knowledge for disease identification, poor understanding of the factors influencing disease spread and severity, and poor coordination of disease management at regional and country level. The Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P) was initiated in 2006 to improve responses to Xanthomonas wilt through building capacity of affected communities to cope with effects and prevent further disease spread as well as improve understanding of the factors that increase vulnerability to the disease, and hence contribute to development of effective and sustainable integrated management strategies. One of the key activities under the C3P was disease surveillance in the six targeted countries to determine the presence and the extent of Xanthomonas wilt spread.

Materials and Methods

Surveys were done between September 2006 and February 2007 in the whole of Rwanda and Burundi and selected areas in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Specific areas in the different countries were targeted because of their proximity to Uganda. There were surveys previously carried out in Tanzania, Rwanda and DRC, however, the data collected was not GIS-linked, which necessitated that more GIS linked surveys be done so as to map out the areas. In Burundi and Kenya (western province), no previous surveys had been done.

Data were obtained by administering questionnaires orally to the head of the household, followed by sampling and inspection of 30 banana mats selected randomly within the respondent’s farm. The selected mats were checked for infection by Xanthomonas wilt and other diseases (Fusarium wilt, Black leaf streak (or Black sigatoka)), banana streak virus, Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa bunchy top, cigar end rot)), and pests (nematodes and weevils). Household selection criteria were based on having a 2 year old plantation with a minimum of 60 mats for scoring incidences and the proximity of the farm to the house. The questionnaire also captured information on farmer awareness of disease management practices, sources of planting materials, varieties grown as well as other factors of relevance to disease spread and management. The number of households surveyed were 165 in Burundi, 167 in Kenya, 196 in Rwanda, 358 in Uganda, 594 in Tanzania and 600 in DRC though only 268 (in DRC) were GIS-linked. GIS locations of each farm were taken for mapping of disease spread.

Results and Discussion

Uganda

By the time of commencing the surveys, Xanthomonas wilt was already known to be present in Uganda, DRC, Tanzania and Rwanda (Tushemereirwe et al., 2003; Mwangi et al., 2007), but had not been previously reported in Kenya and Burundi. No comprehensive disease spread surveys with GIS references had been carried out in any of the countries, except in Uganda, where the highest incidence of Xanthomonas wilt was observed in the central and eastern regions of the country. Between 85 - 100 % of all farms surveyed in Iganga, Mbale and Sironko districts were infected, with disease incidence on each farm averaging 10-40% (Table 1). All surveyed farms in Sironko district were infected with an average of 40% of mats infected in each farm. Kamuli district had no infected farms, though a smaller sample size was considered. In the central districts of Kayunga and Luweero, an average of 88% of surveyed farms had infected mats, while Nakaseke and Mukono districts had relatively fewer farms infected at 48 and 66.7% incidence, respectively. The high incidence levels in eastern and central districts would be expected since these areas were affected earliest by the Xanthomonas wilt pandemic in the country (Tushemereirwe et al., 2006). In the western parts of the country, disease incidence in Hoima and Kabarole districts were high averaging 81.9%, while incidence was lower in Ntungamo and Mbarara districts, averaging 22.3%.

Democratic Republic of Congo

In the DRC, disease incidence (number of diseased mats per farm) was over 50% on almost all surveyed farms. In the Watalinga area of the Beni Territory, Xanthomonas wilt was detected in 69.6% of farms surveyed, with disease incidence within majority of the farms averaging 30% and only a few farms having over 75% of all mats infected. The relatively low disease incidences in the Watalinga area could have been indicative of early pandemic expansion phase and presented opportunities for containing further spread if appropriate measures were taken. In Masisi and Rutshuru territories, disease incidence on farm varied with a gradient of high to low incidence as distance increased from the disease epicentre around Lake Bwere. About 60% of the farms within a 25 km radius of Lake Bwere were observed to have lost over 75% of their mats to Xanthomonas wilt. At the time of the survey this area was already in post epidemic phase and needed support to help farmers rehabilitate their plantations. The disease was noted to be advancing northwards towards Lubero and Walikale territories. The outbreak that had been reported earlier further north in Mahagi district of Oriental province was confirmed. The disease was detected in 50% of the farms surveyed, with incidences between 50 – 100% of the affected farms.

- 41 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Table 1: Disease incidence (%) in different regions of East and Central Africa.

Kenya Rwanda Uganda

Region N % Region N % Region N %

Busia 20 5.0 Karogi 17 0.0 Nakaseke 27 48.0 Teso 21 61.9 Kayonza 12 0.0 Mukono 15 66.7 Bungoma 14 14.0 Kirehe 19 0.0 Luweero 43 88.4 Butere 17 0.0 Ngoma 10 0.0 Kayunga 39 89.7 Kuria 11 0.0 Nyamasheke 10 0.0 Iganga 31 87.0 Migori 19 0.0 Rubavu 72 68.0 Kamuli 10 0.0 Kisii 11 0.0 Rulindo 8 3.0 Mbale 44 88.6 Nyamira 15 7.0 Rusizi 16 0.0 Sironko 27 100.0 Rwachonyo 12 0.0 Rutsiro 17 0.0 Hoima 31 77.4 Gucha 9 0.0 Rwamagana 16 0.0 Mbarara 29 6.9 Vihiga 10 0.0 Ntungamo 21 47.6 Siaya 5 0.0 Kabarole 22 86.4

Tanzania DR Congo *Burundi

Biharamulo 44 34.0 Masisi 130 68.4 Bubanza 6 50.0 Bukoba 134 9.7 Rutsuru 120 63.3 Bujumbura 6 50.0 Karagwe 91 28.6 Mutwanga 80 42.5 Bururi 14 14.3 Kasulu 60 0.0 Mahagi 150 50.0 Cankuzo 12 8.3 Kibondo 34 0.0 Watalinga 100 67.0 Cibitoke 12 50.0 Kigoma 40 0.0 Goma 20 75.0 Gitega 8 25.0 Misenyi 17 29.4 Karuzi 6 0.0 Muleba 99 29.3 Kayanza 12 8.3 Ngara 59 0.0 Kirundo 13 38.5 Makamba 11 27.3 Muramvya 8 37.5 Muyinga 12 25.0 Mwaro 5 0.0 ngozi 12 25.0 Rutana 12 66.7 Ruyigi 15 0.0

* The presence of Xanthomonas wilt in Burundi awaits confirmation from laboratory analysis. N = number.

Tanzania

In Tanzania, the highest number of infected farms were observed in Biharamulo (34%), followed by Muleba, Misenyi and Karagwe districts, with an average of 29% farms infected (Table 1). Farms with the highest number of infected mats were in Muleba, reaching 100% in some instances followed by Karagwe and Biharamulo with maximum of 60% infected mats. Disease incidence was relatively low in Bukoba district with less than 10% of the surveyed farms diseased. No farms were observed with disease in Kasulu, Kibondo, Kigoma Rural and Kigoma Ujiji districts, all in Kigoma region. At the time of the survey, the only district without disease in Kagera region was Ngara.

- 42 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Rwanda

In Rwanda, the Xanthomonas wilt pandemic commenced in Rubavu district and at the time of the survey, the disease was found to be well established in the area, and threatening the neighboring Rutsiro and Karongi districts. Xanthomonas wilt was found in 22.9% of all the surveyed fields largely in Rubavu district which had the highest number of infected farms (61.5%), with a high disease incidence per farm, reaching 86% in some parts of the district (Table 1). The high levels of disease incidence in Rubavu would be expected since the pandemic hit the district more than two years ago, and efforts to contain the disease have been largely unsuccessful.

Kenya

In Kenya, Xanthomonas wilt was found in 11.5% of the surveyed farms, all in Teso and Busia districts. The infected farms were spread over an estimated 100 km span from Luanda to the south extending northwards through to Malaba area towards the Mt. Elgon region. Disease incidence in most of the affected farms was less than 10% (Table 1), indicating an early pandemic phase. The most likely route of further Xanthomonas wilt spread would be towards Kakamega and Eldoret areas, through Butere/Mumias and southwards through Kisumu towards Kisii districts. Further spread could be through the northern side through the Mt. Elgon area close to Mbale district of Uganda, where Xanthomonas wilt was well established.

Burundi

In Burundi, disease was observed in 24.2% of all the surveyed farms. The highest incidence was in Cibitoke province where the disease was observed in half of the surveyed farms with number of plants infected per farm reaching 100% in some farms (Table 1). Rutana and Kirundo provinces also had a large number of farms infected, reaching 66.7% and 38.5%, respectively. Disease incidence in the majority of affected farms was less than 20%, implying disease was in the early stage of the pandemic. Less than one quarter of the affected farms had over 50% of total mats infected. Provinces that had no infection included Karuzi, Mwaro and Ruyigi. Subsequent reports indicated that there was confusion between Xanthomonas wilt and Fusarium wilt symptoms and confirmation awaits the results of laboratory analysis.

Conclusions and recommendations

The survey results indicated that Uganda has a responsive and capable research and extension system in place which is contributing to the success registered so far in Xanthomonas wilt management. In the DRC a dramatic spread of Xanthomonas wilt was observed, with disease already spread over a distance of 700 km between Goma in the south and Mahagi in the north. The survey also showed numerous borderline outbreaks, e.g. along the Kamango/Bundibugyo area (between DRC and Uganda) and Goma/Gisenyi area (between DRC and Rwanda). In future programmes, specific attention would need to be paid the border regions to ensure coordination of activities on both sides of the border to reduce cross-border infections.

In Tanzania, initial effort to respond rapidly with sensitization of stakeholders and removal of infected mats appered to have put a hold on disease spread in the northern districts within Kagera region. However more efforts would be needed to ensure the disease does not spread

- 43 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa further south into Kigoma region from where it could enter the key banana growing region of Mbeya highlands.

In Rwanda, at the time of the survey, the Xanthomonas wilt pandemic was confined largely within the Rubavu district. It was not clear what factors could have contributed to the slow spread of the disease into the other neighboring districts. Vigilance was, however, needed to put in place more aggressive measures to stop further disease spread. Generally, the survey findings presented a positive outlook with good possibility of controlling the disease if more resources were to be injected on a sustainable basis.

In Kenya, though Xanthomonas wilt presence was officially confirmed in 2006 farmers reported having noticed symptoms of Xanthomonas wilt as far back as 2005, reflecting a weak disease surveillance system, which would need to be strengthened as part of disease management measures.

In Burundi, disease presence was sporadic, and pandemic was not observed to be entrenched except in a few farms in Cibitoke province. Generally banana production in Burundi appears to have suffered neglect and lack of extension support, which does not augur well for Xanthomonas wilt containment. In addition, the continuing influx of returning refugees from Tanzania will continue to pose a challenge as they might bring in infected materials (tools or suckers) from the Kagera region where the disease is well established. However, Confirmation of Xanthomonas wilt in Burundi awaits results of laboratory analysis.

The survey findings indicate that pandemic surveillance systems are weak or absent in almost all countries except in Uganda. Across the region, a serious lack of information on preventing disease spread as well as poor diagnostic capacity was observed. These factors, in addition to the presence of other diseases and pests are complicating management. There is need to accelerate training on Xanthomonas wilt recognition and management, targeting both the affected and unaffected but threatened areas. Resources to support co-ordinated continuous surveillance and disease mapping at both country and regional levels are required. In each of the countries, there is some capacity for research and extension, which should be strengthened and put to use to prevent Xanthomonas wilt spread and thus safeguard food security in the Great Lakes region.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the financial support from USAID through the Crop Crisis Control Project and Catholic Relief Services for facilitating partnerships.

Epidemiological Information for XW Control

F. Ssekiwoko, W.K. Tushemereirwe and J. Kubiriba National Banana Research Programme, Kawanda, Kampala, Uganda

Introduction

Banana Xanthomonas wilt (XW) is a banana disease caused by a bacterium, Xanthomonas campestris p.v musacearum (Xcm) (Yirgou and Bradbury, 1974; Dye, 1978) though recent molecular studies have suggested the name Xanthomonas vasicola p.v musacearum (Aritua et al., 2006). Since its first outbreak in Ethiopia in 1968 (Yirgou and Bradbury, 1974), the disease has been reported in 6 other countries in east and central Africa. These are Uganda in 2001(Tushemereirwe et al., 2004), DR. Congo in 2001 (Ndugo et al., 2006), Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and possibly Burundi in 2006. It has not been reported outside of Africa.

Plants affected by Xanthomonas wilt show leaf wilting symptoms (leaves loose tugor, feel leathery and change colour through light green to yellow). Yellow bacterial ooze passes out of the pseudostems when cut (visible after a while). If the plants are flowered, they additionally show wilting and drying of male-bud bracts with yellow ooze passing out of the male flower scars. Infected bunches ripen prematurely, with fingers showing rusty stains in the placenta even when they are visibly green on the outside (Tushemereirwe et al., 2004). The disease causes yield loses of up to 100% to affected plants and leads to; reduced total home-consumed banana, household incomes, increased banana prices on farm, households may switch to other enterprises (Kalyebara et al., 2006; Karamura et al., 2006).

Given the impact of Xanthomonas wilt on the communities and the lack of tested management practices worldwide, it was urgent to generate information on its epidemiology in order to develop practical disease management options. Specifically, information on modes of spread, host range, survival period and resistant varieties under east African conditions was lacking. Various studies were undertaken to generate this information.

Host range of Xcm in Uganda

Destruction of infected hosts was considered a key to the success and an integral component of any Xanthomonas wilt control strategy but some times the whole range of hosts of the pathogen was not fully known. Such was the case in Uganda and host range studies were necessary to ensure effective control through host destruction. Good understanding of Xcm inoculation was, however, required in order to study hosts of Xcm. Ssekiwoko et al. (2003) evaluated a number of artificial inoculation techniques of Xcm in banana. A suspension (approximately x108 cfus/ml) of a pure culture of Xcm was used to inoculate tissue cultured banana plantlets using the following methods: Needle injection of Xcm suspension into leaf petiole; application of Xcm moist cotton wool on to multiple needle punctured leaf blades of Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa banana; Cutting leaf blades using Xcm contaminated knives; deeping root injured plantlets into Xcm suspension and planting banana seedlings into soil moistened with Xcm suspension.

Needle injection of Xcm suspension into leaf petiole was selected as best inoculation technique for use in host range studies because of the ease of application and its ability to induce 100% incidence. Early host range studies by Yirgou and Bradbury (1968 and 1974) had identified Banana and Enset as Natural hosts to Xcm. Ssekiwoko et al. (2006a) investigated other potential hosts of Xcm in Uganda. Plants belonging to 20 genera known to be either; a) banana relatives, b) hosts to Xanthomonas and c) common weeds in banana plantations and one clone of cultivated banana were established in pots and injected with a pure suspension of Xcm followed by re-isolation from the symptomatic plants.

The results showed that Musa accuminata zebrina, M. ornata and Cana indica developed wilt symptom often associated with Xcm infection which was later re-isolated from them. It was concluded that Xcm host range was not only restricted to Musaceae but also to Canaceae (represented by C. indica). Under the experimental conditions of the study hosts could not be established among the families of Graminae, Compositae, Solanaceae and Zingiberaceae which were represented by various species. Regular weeding to eliminate C. indica which often occurs as a weed in banana plantations was recommended. This study did not however demonstrate whether C. indica could be naturally infected in the field. Field surveys would thus be necessary to establish if C. indica could naturally host Xcm to act as a reservoir in banana fields.

Resistance to Xcm within the Ugandan banana germplasm

Among the edible cultivated bananas growing in the fields in Uganda, none had been observed to resist Xcm infection and plantations were being devastated as the disease captured more territory. Ssekiwoko et al. (2006b) established an experiment to investigate the reaction of different banana genotypes to artificial inoculation with Xcm. Twenty five (25) potted plantlets (aged 3 months) from each of the 42 genotypes were artificially injected with Xcm suspension (approximately x108 cfus/ml) in the leaf petiole. It was observed that all cultivated genotypes succumbed but Musa balbsiana (a wild type) demonstrated a resistance reaction by recovering from wilt symptoms (Ssekiwoko et al., 2006b). The local East African Highland bananas and some exotics like Psang awak completely died of the disease. Other genotypes died after inoculation but produced suckers that continued growing without further symptoms.

More screening experiments of international germplasm were however necessary and it was also important to screen all genotypes at a much older stage of plants to find if they would react the same way. Natural infection by insect transmitted pathogens of Moko disease had been reported (Buddenhagen, 1962) and cultivars with persistence bracts were reported to escape such an infection. A field evaluation of the Ugandan genotypes against natural infection by Xcm was also carried out to find if some naturally escaped infection and could hence be used to replace infected fields. The results showed that all cultivated bananas succumbed to artificial inoculation of the disease.

Role of insects in the transmission of XW

The role of insects in natural field transmission of Xcm was also investigated in order to understand the natural field reactions of banana to Xcm. The involvement of insects in the

- 46 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa transmission of similar banana wilts (Moko) had been studied by Buddenhagen (1962). In Uganda, it had been speculated that insects could be involved in Xanthomonas wilt spread as they were often seen congregating at the male buds which eventually developed symptoms of the disease. Information was, however, lacking on particular vectors and methods of vectoring. A study undertaken by Tinzaara et al. (2006) to; identify the insect species visiting banana flowers, reported that insects were observed, congregated at male flower cushions/scars and moving between flowers in search for nectar. At the same time these surfaces and saps were noted contaminated with Xcm. Less Xcm was isolated from nectar (1.891 x 104) as compared to saps (3.625 x 105) and ooze (1.896 x1011). This Xcm was consequently picked by these busy insects. Most Xcm was picked by the grass fly (6073 cells/insect) followed by honey bee (5056 cells/insect), then (2398 cells/insect) and least on stingless bees (1368 cells/insect) encountered on symptomatic flowers (Table 1).

The study confirmed earlier results on Moko disease that insects picked the bacteria from contaminated plant surfaces and deposit it at the exposed fresh scars/cushions. It was also concluded that plants with persistent bracts and male flowers could escape the insect transmitted Xcm. It was recommended that male buds should be removed early before the infection courts/ scars are exposed.

This study focused on insects visiting the flowers but the role of those sucking from other banana parts is not known. Information is also lacking as to whether the bacteria is moved within the insect body or on the contaminated surface.

Table 1: Examples of developed transgenic plants expressing transgene encoding for bacterial disease resistance.

Plant Transgene/ protein Reference

Tomato Pto Kim et al., 2002 Bs2 Tai et al., 1999

Tobacco Cecropin Huang et al., 1997 Magainin (Myp30) Li et al., 2001 Magainin (MSI-99) De Gray et al., 2001 pflp Huang et al., 2004

Rice Xa21 Wang et al., 1996 Xa1 Yoshimura et al., 1998 pflp Tang et al., 2001

Orchid pflp Liau et al., 2003

Potato Cecropin (Shiva-1, SB-37) Arce et al., 1999 Attacin Arce et al., 1999

Apple Cecropin (SB-37) Norelli et al., 1999 Attacin Ko et al., 2000

Poplar Cecropin (D4E1) Mentag et al., 2003

Pear Attacin Reynoird et al., 1999

- 47 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Systemicity of Xcm in flower infected banana plants

The control package for controlling Xanthomonas wilt has complete destruction of infected plants as one of its components, aimed at eliminating inoculum sources. This component was not entirely adopted by the farmers due to its laborious nature and they resorted to cutting off only the diseased plants in a mat. Ssekiwoko et al. (2006c), established experiments to study the systemicity of Xcm in flower infected banana plants in order to validate the recommended or the farmers’ practices. Surface sterilized tissues (approximately 10g) from different parts of infected Kayinja plants at different disease development stage (Shriveling bracts, Decaying rachis, premature ripening and whole bunch rotting /dry) were taken to the laboratory, suspended in sterile water for 10 minutes to obtain a bacterial suspension. A drop of this suspension from each part was plated on the semi selective medium developed by Mwangi et al. (2007).

It was concluded from the results that plants at early stages of flower infection have Xcm restricted to upper parts of the true stem, with 62% plant length free of Xcm for shriveling bracts. It was also concluded that Xcm passes from true stem to innermost sheaths attached to it and proceeds outwards to the older sheaths. It was further concluded that within the corm, Xcm mostly colonizes the cambium ring containing vessels and much less the central cylinder and cortical region of the corm. By the time premature fruit ripening is observed, Xcm has colonised the sucker tissues attached to infected plant.

As a result of these studies it was recommended that for infected Kayinja plants where the plants only show male bud symptoms, the affected plant may be cut at the base and/or its corm uprooted to protect the other symptomless plants in the same mat. This is because at that stage of disease development, the bacteria will not have reached the corm. It was also recommended that this (systemicity) study be extended to other cultivars.

Potential of various banana parts in transmitting Xanthomonas wilt

In traditional banana management, used banana parts (pseudostem sheath, peelings, corms, fresh leaves and dry leaves) were often disposed off as mulch in banana plantations. It was not clearly known whether these infected materials could transmit the disease and/or induce disease outbreaks if used in disease-free gardens. Speculations were high that movement of these parts across the country was responsible for the long distance outbreak of the disease. Tumushabe et al. (2006) established an experiment to investigate the potential of these parts in transmitting XW. Xcm was isolated from these parts from infected banana by suspending tissues in sterile water and plating the suspension on Yeast peptone glucose agar, followed by incubating at 25 oC. After isolation, its pathogenicity on banana was tested through petiole injection of a cloudy suspension into tissue culture banana plantlets. Whole parts were then applied to the growing potted plantlets with and without root wounding. The results showed that pathogenicity of Xcm isolates from the test parts was above 70% for all parts. It was also noted that with the exception of dry leaves, all parts induced wilt symptoms (6-13% wilt incidence) when used to inoculate banana plantlets after wounding (Table 1). It was concluded that Xcm-infected banana parts had a potential for transmitting XW and that wounding would enhance the rate of infection. It was recommended that these parts be disposed off in places where they do not make contact with growing banana plants.

- 48 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Survival of Xcm in soil and infected residues

Initial recommendation for the management of infected residues was in situ destruction of affected plants, followed by a fallow period of 2 years before replanting. This tentative recommendation was not backed by scientific data. Mwebaze et al. (2006b) thus initiated a study to investigate the survival of Xcm in soil and infected residues in Mukono district in order to come up with a recommendation on replanting. The study involved laboratory inoculation of sterilized soil with Xcm suspension, then incubating it after adjusting relative humidity to14 and 28% using sterile water. Xcm was subsequently isolated from this soil at 7 days intervals by serial dilution of 1 g soil with 0.1M MgSO4 buffer followed by plating on a semi-selective medium developed by Mwebaze et al. (2006a). After 5 days incubation at 25 oC, Xcm colonies would be counted. In the same study, inoculated sterile soil was housed in nylon mesh bags and buried at 5 cm depth in the field soil (pH 6.4-6.9). Similar procedures as above were followed to re-isolate and enumerate Xcm. Infected plant debris were also incubated in the laboratory and field (both buried at 5 cm depth and on soil surface), then 2 g tissues sampled at 7days intervals, suspended in 0.1M MgSO4 buffer for 5 minutes, serially diluted and drops of suspension plated on the semi-selective medium. Xcm colonies would be counted. In all recovery experiments, Xcm would be confirmed through pathogenicity tests on banana.

It was concluded that; (a) reduced soil moisture (14%) lowers Xcm survival period as compared to high soil moisture (28%), (b) presence of competitors in non sterile soil lowers survival period of Xcm (20 days) as compared to sterile soil (45 days), and (c) in the field, Xcm did not survive beyond 35 days both in soil and debris, within soil and on surface.

It was recommended that where infected plants have been effectively destroyed and that there is no more re-suckering/sprouting and tissues have completely rotten, replanting can be done after a fallow period of three months.

The recommendations from this study have not taken into account the differences in physical chemical and geographical conditions of the different regions where banana, soil and Xcm interact, and it is not known if they can be generalized for other regions. The study needs to be extended to other regions and field banana replanting experiments are also necessary to validate the above results.

General conclusions

(a) In addition to cultivated banana and enset (Musaceae), Cana indica (Canaceae) is also an altanative host to Xcm. (b) True resistance to Xcm does not exist within the cultivated bananas of Uganda except in the wild type, Musa balbsiana. (c) Insects (especially stingless bees among others) are involved in the transmission of Xcm from contaminated male bud surfaces of infected plants to infection cushions/ scars within the male buds of healthy banana plants. (d) Xcm infection is systemic and the extent of colonization of distant parts from the male bud as an initial infection route is dependent on the advancement of externally visible symptoms among other factors.

- 49 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa (e) Xcm infected banana parts (in their fresh state) have a potential for transmitting Xanthomonas wilt if they make contact with healthy plants but wounding is a prerequisite for infection. (f) Xcm did not survive beyond 35days both in soil & debris, within soil and on surface and was affected by presence of other micro-organisms and soil moisture content among other factors.

General recommendations

(a) A forked stick rather than a cutting tool should be used to remove male buds at such an early stage before infection cushions/ scars are exposed to the insects. (b) Sanitation measures (uproot only infected plant off the mat for plants with only male bud symptoms; otherwise uproot whole mats) are pre-requisite to effective management of the Xanthomonas wilt in a garden. (c) Infected banana parts should be disposed off in such a manner that they do not make contact with growing banana plants. The method for disposing off infected plant material must enhance rapid decay like in situ burying or heaping. (d) Where infected plants have been effectively destroyed that there is no more re-suckering/ sprouting and infected tissues have completely rotten, replanting can be done after a fallow period of three months. (e) In rural areas where access to JIK for disinfecting tools is limited, pruning or cutting of plant parts should be stopped; otherwise disinfect tools with fire (f) During infection, weeding should be done regularly to eliminate possible alternative hosts like C. indica which often grow within banana plantations.

Control of banana Xanthomonas wilt disease using biotechnology

Leena Tripathi1*, J.N. Tripathi1 and W.K. Tushemereirwe2 1International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, P.O. Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda Email: [email protected]; 2 National Agriculture Research Laboratories, Kawanda, Uganda * Corresponding author

Introduction

Bananas are the fourth most important food crop in the tropical and sub-tropical zones of the world. Annual banana production in the world is estimated at 104 million metric tonnes of which less than 10% enters the commercial market, suggesting that the crop is more important as food for local consumption than for export (FAOSTAT, 2004). East Africa is the largest banana producing and consuming region in Africa with Uganda being the world’s second leading producer with the total production of about 10.5 million tonnes (FAOSTAT, 2004). The banana Xanthomonas wilt (XW) disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Tushemereirwe et al., 2004; Xcm) threatens the livelihood of millions of farmers in East Africa. The disease was first identified in Uganda in 2001 and now has spread in epiphytotic proportions to almost all major banana producing districts of the country. The disease has also been reported in Democratic Republic of Congo (Ndungo et al., 2005), Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi. Xanthomonas wilt was first reported more than 30 years ago in Ethiopia on Ensete species, which are closely related to banana (Yirgou and Bradbury, 1974). The disease attacks almost all varieties of commonly grown banana cultivars.

Economic impact of the disease is manifested as result of absolute yield loss or reduced bunch weights, and death of the mother plant and suckers that help in subsequent ratoon plant production cycles. Diseased fields cannot be replanted with banana due to soil borne inoculum of the pathogen. Xanthomonas wilt has many similarities to bacterial wilts of banana in other parts of the world (Moko, blood and bugtok diseases) that are caused by Ralstonia (formally Pseudomonas solanacearum) and closely related organisms (Thwaites et al., 2000). Experience with these diseases shows that once they have become established in smallholder banana cropping systems, then control is very difficult and eradication effectively impossible (Eden- Green, 2004).

Development or selection of resistant varieties has been the best and most cost-effective method of managing bacterial diseases. Attempts to develop bacterial disease resistant varieties through conventional breeding have resulted in only limited success, as no source of germplasm exhibiting resistance has been identified against Xcm. Transgenic technologies for banana Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa may provide a timely and cost-effective alternative solution to the Xanthomonas wilt pandemic. Molecular biology studies have unraveled several new options to manage bacterial diseases in plants. Several transgenic technologies are available to develop disease resistant plants through manipulation of the host’s regulatory mechanisms or defense mechanism or inserting antimicrobial proteins. This article reviews the potential strategies for developing banana varieties resistant to Xanthomonas wilt disease.

Potential strategies to develop plants resistant to Bacterial Wilt

One approach to control bacterial disease is to improve a plants’ defense against a particular pathogen. This has been made possible by genetic engineering using genes found in fungi, insects, animals and other plants. Resistance genes have been exploited to develop bacterial disease resistant plants in many crops like rice, tobacco, tomato and apple (Table 1 Ssekiwoko et al., this volume). But none of the bacterial resistant varieties are commercially available.

A large group of low molecular weight Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that exhibit antimicrobial activity has been isolated from animals and plants. Examples of AMPs are magainin from the African clawed frog, cecropins from the giant silk moth and plant defensins. Native (Cecropin B), mutant (SB37, MB39) and synthetic (Shiva-1, D4E1) cecropins are active in vitro against a wide range of plant pathogenic bacteria including Erwinia carotovora, Pseudomonas syringae, Ralstonia solanacearum and Xanthomonas campestris whereas they exert no toxicity at bactericidal concentration to cultured cells or protoplasts of several plant species (Kaduno- Okuda et al., 1995; Rajasekaran et al., 2001). Therefore, cecropins are considered as potential candidates to protect plants against bacterial pathogens. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing cecropins have increased resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci, the cause of tobacco wildfire (Huang et al., 1997). Synthetic lytic peptide analogs, Shiva-1 and SB-37, produced from transgenes in potato plants reduce bacterial infection caused by Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica in transgenic potato plants (Arce et al., 1999). Transgenic apple expressing the SB-37 lytic peptide analog showed increased resistance to E. amylovora, pathogen for fire blight, in field tests (Norelli et al., 1999). More recently, the expression of the D4E1 in poplar has resulted resistance to Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Xanthomonas populi (Mentag et al., 2003).

Similarly, Magainins and their analogs have been studied as a broad-spectrum antibiotic agent. However, only magainin analogs (MSI-99 and Myp30) have recently been transferred into plants for used against bacteria. Li et al. (2001) have reported disease resistance, to both a fungal and a bacterial pathogen, conferred by expression of a magainin analog, Myp30, in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum var. Petit Havana). Another analog MSI-99, when expressed in tobacco via chloroplast transformation conferred both in vitro and in planta resistance to plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi (De Gray et al., 2001).

There are a number of known plant defensins, which are known to protect against plant pathogens. Kawata et al. (2003) reported that the plant defensins from B. oleracea and B. campestris conferred an effective resistance to bacterial leaf blight of rice, and that the modification of the defensin genes led to an increase in the broad disease resistance spectrum. Attacins are another group of antibacterial proteins produced by Hyalophora cecropia pupae. Attacin expressed in transgenic potato enhanced its resistance to bacterial infection by E. carotovora subsp. atrospetica (Arce et al., 1999). Transgenic pear and apple expressing attacin genes have significantly enhanced resistance to E. amylovora in in vitro and greenhouse

- 52 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa (Norelli et al., 1999; Reynoird et al., 1999; Ko et al., 2000). In field tests, reduction of fire blight disease has been observed in transgenic apples expressing attacin genes (Norelli et al., 1999). Plants have their own networks of defense against plant pathogens that include a vast array of proteins and other organic molecules produced prior to infection or during pathogen attack. Pathosystem-specific plant resistance (R) genes have been cloned from several plant species. R genes cloned from resistant varieties can be transferred to susceptible cultivars of same plant species making them resistant to pathogens. It is also possible to transfer R genes from one plant species to another species.

Dozens of R genes, against many different pathogens, have now been cloned from a variety of plants. In tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), the R gene Pto confers resistance against strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Kim et al., 2002). Pto-overexpressing plants show resistance not only to P. syringae pv. tomato but also to Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria and to the fungal pathogen Cladosporium fulvum (Mysore et al., 2003). Similarly, the Arabidopsis RPS4 gene specifies disease resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato expressing avrRps4 (Gassmann et al., 1999). The Bs2 resistance gene of pepper specifically recognizes and confers resistance to strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Tai et al., 1999). Transgenic tomato plants expressing the pepper Bs2 gene suppress the growth of Xcv.

Xa21 gene isolated from rice has been shown to confer resistance against many isolates of X. oryzae pv. oryzae (Wang et al., 1996). Transgenic plants expressing Xa21 under the control of native promoter of genomic fragment of the Xa21 gene showed enhanced resistance to bacterial leaf blight caused by most Xoo races. The Xa1 gene also isolated from rice confers resistance to Japanese race 1 of Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae, the causal pathogen of bacterial blight (Yoshimura et al., 1998).

Plants employ a wide array of defense mechanisms against pathogen attack. Among those, hypersensitive response (HR) is an induced resistance mechanism, characterised by rapid, localised cell death upon their encounter with a microbial pathogen (Alvarez et al., 1998). The HR cell death forms a physical barrier to prevent further pathogen infection. In addition, a local HR is often associated with activation of plant defense responses in the surrounding and even distal uninfected parts of the plants leading to the development of systemic acquired resistance (Xie and Chen, 2000).

Hypersensitive response-assisting protein (HRAP) is a novel plant protein that can intensify the harpinPSS-mediated hypersensitive response (HR) in harpinPSS-insensitive plants (Chen et al., 2000). An increased hrap transcript level was observed when sweet pepper leaves were infiltrated with the native harpinPSS generator, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. The hrap gene is widely distributed throughout the plant world including tobacco, Arabidopsis, and rice and its transcription level correlates with plant sensitivity to harpinPSS (Chen et al., 2000). The interaction between HRAP and harpinPSS reveals a novel way to interpret the interaction mechanism between plants and bacterial pathogens.

A ferredoxin-like amphipathic protein (pflp, formerly called AP1) was isolated from the sweet pepper, Capsicum annuum (Lin et al., 1997). pflp has been shown to delay the hypersensitive response induced by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae in non-host plants through the release of the proteinaceous elicitor, harpinPss. The plants carrying the pflp gene showed enhanced resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) race 6 at various levels (Tang et

- 53 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa al., 2001). This suggests the pflp gene could be a useful candidate for genetic engineering strategies in rice to provide bacterial blight resistance. pflp has also been shown to enhance resistance in transgenic orchids against E. carotovora, causing soft rot disease (Liau et al., 2003).

The pflp and hrap, isolated from the sweet pepper, Capsicum annuum, are novel plant proteins that can intensify the harpinPSS-mediated hypersensitive response (Chen et al., 2000). These proteins have dual function; iron depletion antibiotic action and harpin triggered HR enhancing. The transgenes have been shown to delay the hypersensitive response induced by various pathogens like Erwinia, Pseudomonas, Ralstonia and Xanthomonas spp. in non-host plants through the release of the proteinaceous elicitor, harpinPss in various crops including dicots like tobacco, potato, tomato, broccoli, orchids and monocots like rice (Huang et al., 2004; Tang et al., 2001). Also elicitor-induced resistance is not specific against particular pathogens, so it could be very useful strategy. Hence, manipulation of such defense genes may be more ideal.

Developments of banana varieties resistant to Xanthomonas wilt

Genetic engineering has become an important tool for crop improvement. It offers numerous important opportunities for the improvement of existing elite varieties and development of new cultivars. A major advantage of genetic engineering is that it allows breeders to rapidly develop new varieties by the introduction of cloned genes into commercial varieties. Several methods exist for transformation of bananas. Genetic transformation using microprojectile bombardment of embryogenic cell suspension is now routine (Sagi et al., 1995; Becker et al., 2000). The protocol has also been developed for Agrobacterium mediated transformation of embryogenic cell suspensions of the banana (Ganapathi et al., 2001; Khanna et al., 2004). At present most of the transformation protocols use cell suspensions, however establishing cell suspensions is a lengthy process and is also cultivar-dependent. A transformation system has also been established using shoot tips from various cultivars of Musa (May et al., 1995; Tripathi et al., 2005). This technique is applicable to a wide range of Musa cultivars irrespective of ploidy or genotype (Tripathi et al., 2003, 2005). This process does not incorporate steps involving disorganized cell cultures but uses micro-propagation, which has the important advantage of allowing regeneration of homogeneous populations of plants in a short period of time and offers several potential advantages over the use of embryogenic cell suspensions (ECS) as it allows for rapid transformation of Musa species.

Recently, researchers at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Uganda in collaboration with National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) Uganda, have established a genetic transformation system for East African Highland Bananas (EAHBs) using the shoot tips. The genetic transformation system developed can be used for the production of bacterial wilt resistant varieties of banana, using transgenes already demonstrated to confer resistance against bacterial wilt in other crops. The research is in progress at IITA in collaboration with NARO for producing Xanthomonas wilt resistant banana varieties using transgenes encoding for plant ferredoxin-like protein (pflp) and hypersensitive response assisting protein (hrap) isolated from sweet pepper.

In this research project, IITA is collaborating with Academia Sinica, NARO-Uganda, other national partners and AATF (African Agricultural Technology Foundation) for development and deployment of banana varieties resistant to XW. The project includes access to technologies, development of banana varieties with Xanthomonas wilt resistance; and wide

- 54 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa scale deployment of improved banana varieties in Africa. IITA has negotiated for access to pflp and hrap genes through AATF from Academia Sinica, the patent holder, for a license to use this gene in banana in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The genetic transformation of banana with constructs having pflp or hrap genes is in progress using a protocol developed at IITA based on the Agrobacterium tumefaciens technology. Upon successful transformation of farmer-preferred banana varieties, the transgenic banana will then be tested for efficacy against bacterial wilt and for environmental and food safety in compliance with target country regulations. The project will also study consumer preferences and acceptability of transgenic banana in Africa to guide the commercialization and wide scale use of the transformed varieties. Wide scale deployment of transformed, farmer-preferred banana varieties in Sub-Saharan African countries will involve inter-institutional partnerships, in particular the NARS, ARIs, AATF and NGOs. This will be in conformity with biosafety regulations, risk assessment and management, seed registration and release procedures, public perceptions and consumer acceptability.

Conclusion

The bacterial diseases are difficult to control. No effective chemicals are available to control bacterial diseases. Use of antibiotics is not recommended. Developing host plant resistance has been the best and most cost-effective method of managing bacterial diseases. Use of biotechnology, may provide a timely and cost-effective measure to address the dangers of the spread of XW disease. Molecular biology studies have revealed several new options for management of bacterial diseases. One approach to control bacterial disease is to improve a plant’ defense against a particular pathogen.

Plants employ a wide array of defense mechanisms against pathogen attack. Among those, hypersensitive response (HR) is an induced resistance mechanism, characterized by rapid, localized cell death upon their encounter with a microbial pathogen. Several defense genes have been shown to delay the hypersensitive response induced by bacterial pathogen in non- host plants through the release of the proteinaceous elicitor. Elicitor-induced resistance is not specific against particular pathogens. Hence, manipulation of such defence genes may be more ideal for developing Xanthomonas wilt resistant banana varieties.

Cultural practices for management of Xanthomonas in Uganda

L.F. Turyagyenda1, G. Blomme1, E. Karamura1, F. Ssekiwoko2, W. Tinzaara1, S. Mpiira2 and S. Eden-Green3 1Bioversity International, P. O. Box 24384, Kampala, Uganda 2Kawanda Research Institute P. O. Box 7065, Kawanda, Uganda 3EG Consulting, 470 Lunsford Lane, Larkfield, Kent ME20 6JA, UK

Introduction

Xanthomonas wilt, is a broad-spectrum disease of banana, caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum was first reported in Kayunga district in Uganda in 2001. The disease has since spread to more than 30 districts in the country causing up to 100% yield loss when it establishes itself in a farm. This has threatened food and income security of poor resource farmers who grow the crop. Xanthomonas wilt regarded by over 70% of the farmers in Uganda to be the most important hazard to household food and income security. On detection of the disease, several control options, such as de-budding, disinfection of garden tools and destruction of diseased plants/mats to eradicate or arrest disease spread were suggested, based on their effectiveness in controlling other banana wilt diseases with similar epidemiology. However, these options had not been scientifically validated on-farm for their effectiveness in controlling Xanthomonas wilt. Also farmers did not implement the recommendation of destruction/burying of the infected mats due to its labour-intensive nature and instead resorted to cutting down only the infected plants from the mat. Generally, the adoption rate for these options has been slow and the disease reached epidemic levels especially in ‘Pisang Awak’ (Musa ABB)-growing areas. Large numbers of ‘Pisang Awak’ farmers have lost hope and have abandoned their plantations. Plant destruction/removal followed by a fallow period or crop rotation with non-host crops and subsequent replanting with clean planting materials could restore the banana plantation. However, knowledge of the duration of the fallow or crop rotation period is lacking. Neither did the farmers know the most cost-effective method for destroying infected fields. It was therefore deemed appropriate to evaluate the control options on farm and determine the most appropriate fallow period to avoid re-infestation when replanting with clean planting materials.

Materials and Methods

Rehabilitation of Xanthomonas wilt destroyed banana farms in Uganda

Trials were set up at three sites in fields in Luwero district, with 68-76% of mats infected at the beginning of the experiment. The fields were divided into three equal plots. The first plot plants were killed by injecting herbicide 2,4-D into pseudo-stems. In the second plot, plants were manually cut down and their rhizomes dug out, while in third plot, the plants were cut Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa down at ground level and sucker re-growth was continuously removed. The banana plant debris were removed from the plots and piled on ridges between the plots. Replanting started one month after clearing the diseased plants and went on at a monthly interval for eight months. Tissue culture plantlets of ‘Pisang Awak’ (ABB, syn. ‘Kayinja’) and ‘Mporogoma‘(AAA, East African Highland subgroup) were used. Each row consisted of 10 plantlets of each variety, planted at random.

Effectiveness of prompt removal of inflorescence infected plants

This study evaluated the farmers’ practice of cutting down only the Xanthomonas wilt floral infected plant from the mat as a new control measure by cutting off flower-infected mother plants from the mat. Monitoring of symptom expression in the attached suckers or lateral shoots followed. Plants at three different disease symptom stages namely wilting of male bud bracts, drying of the rachis and premature fruit ripening and drying, were selected for this study. Plants with advanced stage symptoms such as drying and rotting of fruits and wilting of the entire plant were not considered in this study. It was assumed that the bacteria in such plants would have reached the corm and attached suckers (Ssekiwoko et al., 2006). For each disease symptom stage, 50 plants, one from each mat, were cut off at soil level and removed from the field. The suckers attached to the cut mother plant were painted and the mats were monitored for disease incidence on the attached suckers. Farmers were restrained from deleafing or de-suckering the marked suckers to prevent contaminated tool infections. It was assumed that a mat from which the infected plant was cut would show no symptoms if cutting off the diseased plant completely removed the disease.

Effectiveness of early de-budding and bagging of inflorescences

To evaluate the effectiveness of de-budding and bagging, six treatments were applied on ‘Kayinja’ cultivars namely, de-budding immediately after formation of the last cluster, de- budding at 2 and 4 weeks after the formation of the last cluster, bagging the inflorescence at shooting (i.e. emergence of the flower bud from the pseudostem) until the formation of the last cluster, bagging the inflorescence until the formation of the last cluster followed by immediate de-budding, and neither bagging nor de-budding (control). In addition, only two treatments namely, de-budding immediately after the formation of the last cluster and neither bagging nor de-budding (control) were carried out on the ‘Matooke’ mixture and the exotic/improved high yielding Musa varieties. De-budding, bagging and control treatments were replicated 5 times on plots of 100 plants each. Plots were painted with paint of different colours to differentiate between the treatments. All the diseased plants in the plots were removed in order to exclude inflorescence infections which were formed before the trials started and data collection on new flower infections started in all plots after three months.

Results and Discussions

Rehabilitation of Xanthomonas wilt destroyed banana farms in Uganda

The survival rates of different cultivars after different months of fallowing are presented in Table 1. The results indicated that seedlings planted after a one-month fallow period had the least (25%) survival rate, while those planted after seven and eight months of fallowing had the highest ( 100%) survival rate. This suggests that the cleared Xanthomonas wilt infected

- 57 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa farms need a fallow period of at least six months. Generally the survival rate of the plants were lower with ‘Mporogoma’ than ‘Pisang Awak’ suggesting that cultivars differ in response to Xanthomonas wilt soil borne infections.

The results of the effect of the different treatments on the deaths of the replanted plantlets are presented in Table 2. The results showed that incidence of re-infection was highest in the ’continuous cutting’ plots and lowest in plots where plants had been completely uprooted. This indicated that the bacterium could not survive in the soil free of host tissue for long. In the herbicide-treated plots, the bacterium probably survived in decaying debris from the rhizomes and roots, resulting into intermediate levels of re-infection. Therefore complete uprooting of infected plants and removing plant debris onto ridges is the best option for controlling Xanthomonas wilt. However, the economic viability analysis indicated that farmers preferred to use a herbicide compared to uprooting because complete uprooting is laborious and expensive. The use of herbicide followed by a 6 month fallow or crop rotation period is recommended.

Effectiveness of prompt removal of inflorescence infected plants

The results on the effectiveness of early removal of a single infected plant from the mat are presented in Table 3. No mats from which flower-infected plants with symptoms of shrivelling

Table1: Survival rate of different cultivars by month.

Cultivar\month 1 2 3 45678

Mporogoma 34 21 27 25 10 2 0 0 ‘Pisang Awak’ 11 6 5 08000 Survival rate 25 55 47 58 70 97 100 100

Table2: Number of dead plantlets per treatment per month.

Treatment/month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cutting 23 13 19 15 12 02 0 0 Herbicide 16 08 09 07 06 0 0 0 Uprooting 06 06 04 03 0 0 0 0

Table 3: The results on the effectiveness of early removal of a single infected plant from the mat.

Scale Number of mats monitored Number of infected mats

1500 2505 35016

1: shriveling bracts, 2: drying rachis and 3: premature ripening.

- 58 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa bracts cut got infected. Mats from which plants with premature ripening symptoms were cut had high numbers of infections in the attached suckers. This suggests that when the plant shows premature ripening, the disease is in an advanced stage and thus would have reached the corm and might even have infected the attached suckers. Ssekiwoko et al. (2006) reported that plants with shrivelling bracts had Xcm restricted to the upper parts of the true stem with 65% of the lower true stem free of bacteria. None of the plants with shrivelling bracts had Xcm in their corm, leaf sheaths or attached suckers (Ssekiwoko et al., 2006). They further reported that plants with decaying rachis, premature ripening of fruits and whole bunch rotting/drying symptoms had bacteria at the base of the plant. They also reported that in the plants with advanced symptoms, the bacterium had invaded the leaf sheaths, parts of the corm of the mother plant and the attached suckers. The results thus suggested that cutting flower-infected plants at early stages of disease development can stop the bacterium from getting to the mother plant corm and the attached suckers. However, cutting off flower infected plants with a decaying rachis, premature fruit ripening and whole bunch rotting symptoms from the mat to prevent Xcm from reaching and affecting the attached suckers may not be effective.

Interestingly, 68% of the mats from which plants with advanced symptoms (premature ripening) were cut did not get infected. This suggests that continuous cutting off single inflorescence infected plants from mats may reduce Xanthomonas wilt incidence.

Effectiveness of early de-budding and bagging of inflorescences

From the study, ‘Kayinja’ was noted to be more susceptible to floral infection than all other cultivars (Table 4) with the highest number of infected plants (112) followed by the EAHB cultivars (35) while the exotic cultivars had the least number of infections (33). The lower number of floral infections in the exotic and EAHB cultivars may be attributed to the persistence of male flowers and bracts in some genotypes. Temesgen et al. (2004) also reported that ‘Dwarf Cavendish’, which is very widely grown in western Ethiopia, resists floral infection due to the persistent male bracts and flowers that could constitute a barrier to insect transmission.

Table 4: The number of flower-infected plants per cultivar group and treatment.

Cultivar Treatment Number of infected plants

Exotic D* 0 C33

Kayinja D 0 D2 33 D4 97 B 199 B+D 0 C112

EAHB D 0 C35

*D: de-budding immediately after the formation of the last cluster, D2 and D4: de-budding at 2 and 4 weeks after the formation of the last cluster, respectively, B: bagging; C: control.

- 59 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa The results on the effectiveness of the different control options are presented in Table 6. The results indicated that de-budding immediately after the last cluster is formed is effective in controlling inflorescence infections. Similarly, bagging the inflorescence until the last cluster is formed followed by de-budding effectively controlled Xw floral infections. However, bagging alone without de-budding also had a high number of floral infections similar to the control. Similar observations were made on plants in the control experiment and on those that were debudded at 2 and 4 weeks after the formation of the last cluster (Table 5). This suggested that the male flowers are the main avenues of flower infection and that only early de-budding can effectively control Banana Bacterial Wilt. It has also has been reported to result in bigger and more evenly filled/sized fruits (Stover and Simmonds, 1987). Unless the bags are retained on the bunch until maturity and harvesting, bagging alone is not recommended for farmers because female flowers are unlikely to be the entry point for the bacteria. On the other hand, though bagging followed by de-budding is equally effective in controlling Xanthomonas wilt floral infections, it involves extra costs of buying bags and thus is not cost-effective. Therefore early de-budding using a forked stick is recommended for farmers.

Table 5: The effectiveness of different XW control options.

Treatment Number of infected plants

D* 0 D2 33 D4 97 B 199 B+D 0 C 180

*D: de-budding immediately after the formation of the last cluster, D2 and D4: de-budding at 2 and 4 weeks after the formation of the last cluster, respectively, B: bagging; C: control.

Table 6: ME division of responsibilities between key stakeholders.

Date Farmers Extensionists/researchers

No. of trainers trained in the parish Activity done on the farm and who did it No. of farmers trained/sensitized and where Control measure implemented No. of meetings No. of male buds removed Community collective activities No. of infected plants No. of farmers de-budding No. of harvested healthy bunches and No. of farmers roguing price sold No. of diseased bunches No. farmers cleaning farm tools No. of jericans of juice of waragi and Community by-laws formulated & price sold enforced General remarks on status of the disease on the farm

- 60 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Acknowledgements

These studies were financed by the Flemish Association for Development Co-operation and Technical Assistance (VVOB), the Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGDC), and the Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Project (APEP), a USAID-funded project

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of Banana Xanthomonas wilt control strategies in Uganda

M. Masanza12, C.K. Nankinga2, N. N. Odoi2, J. Kubiriba2, J. Muhangi2 and W. K. Tushemereirwe2 1Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries, P.O. Box 102 Entebbe, Uganda 2National Banana Research Programme, P.O. Box 7065 Kampala, Uganda

Introduction

Following an outbreak of Xanthomonas wilt of bananas in Uganda, several measures were put in place to contain the disease that had reached epidemic levels, covering about 40 districts. An R4D Action Plan was put in place by Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) by 2003. Within this plan, both short and long term activities were proposed, with a general objective of stopping the disease from spreading further. The activities included identification of possible cultural, chemical and biological control measures to stem the devastating effects of Xanthomonas wilt evaluation and refining possible control measures using farmer participatory methods, as well as determining economic feasibility of the proposed control measures and their impact on Xanthomonas wilt spread. The strategy envisioned raising of stakeholders’ awareness as an integral component for the control of Xanthomonas wilt. The public awareness activities envisaged included, sensitization, training of trainers, formation and implementation of task forces at national, district, sub-county, parish and village levels, implementing cultural control measures such as de-budding and rouging, reviving government by laws and monitoring task forces’ activities. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)was itself perceived as the time-clock for the execution of project activities because it would provide the time-bound signals either to stay on course or make critical adjustments to improve the efficiency of control measures. For M&E to be effective, it needed to be owned by all project stakeholders along the production-consumption and be developed and executed in a participartory manner. Therefore, the objective of the study was to develop participatory approach taking into account full involvement of farmers as major players and other stakeholders in a bottom-up mode . In this approach, stakeholders were facilitated to identify monitorable indicators which they used to assess the effectiveness of the control measures. The main focus was; a) to evaluate how strategies set for Xanthomonas wilt control in their areas were performing; b) to identify/analyse successes and failures as a basis for learning lessons for future planning; c) To select and prioritize new strategies and/or their modifications to control Xanthomonas wilt and; d) to facilitate stakeholder full participation, mutual understanding, development of inclusive solutions and shared responsibility that trigger community action to control the disease. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Methodology

The stakeholders in Xanthomonas wilt control campaign included farmers, agricultural extension workers (both from public and private sectors), community leaders (both political and other local leaders), established task forces, policy makers and scientists from research centres. A protocol was followed in M&E to involve all these players in Xanthomonas wilt fight. Working with stakeholders, a check list of issues to be monitored was developed. These were divided into what is critical and priority. The priorities were assigned to different groups of stakeholders. Subsequently the stakeholders developed and agreed monitorable indicators and tools which would be used to judge whether or not there is progress at all. Members agreed on all activities to be carried out, persons responsible, the time frame in which to accomplish the tasks, and the data to collect. A format or data collection sheet was developed by all and agreed upon, comprising the tools to employ in monitoring and evaluation. Often, farmers got a notebook in which to make data entries.

Monitoring and Data collection

Farmers recorded the data they were able to and each farmer could keep records of their choice even after the agreed format was available. These data varied from farmer to farmer as some of them would only be able to keep the information in their memory. Others kept systematic data.

Reporting (Complete feedback loop)

The participants suggested/developed a reporting mechanism from farm to national level. They decided whom to report to. Reporting mechanism often followed the following order:

• The individual farmers collected the data, which was handed over to the chairman of the village task force for compilation. • Compiled data from farm level would be handed to the parish task force chairman who took it to the Sub-County task force chairman. • The Sub-County chair compiled the data and handed it over to the district task force chairman or secretary or District Agricultural Officer.

The National task force then collected the data from the district level. However, often the farmers recorded their data and shared with the rest at participatory review meetings at village level. A report compiled at these review meetings would then be circulated to other stakeholders such that all of them come to be informed about what is taking place.

Participatory Review Meetings/Sharing experiences

At village meetings facilitated by either the extension and research teams, farmers shared their experiences in Xw control. Successes and challenges encountered were aired at these meetings.

Scaling out success strategies

From village meetings, all farmers who would have attended and heard what others had been doing or their successes encouraged the non-implementers to control Xanthomonas wilt. Review meetings were held at regional level to share experiences to successes. Farmer exchange

- 63 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa visits were organized so that they could appreciate challenge of Xanthomonas wilt which is surmountable.

Results and discussion

The overall result of this participatory approach to M-E was the increased ownership of the campaign against the Xanthomonas wilt scourge in general and the monitoring of the implementation activities in particular. Farmers themselves took lead in explaining and sharing M&E records (Fig. 1).

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation as a farm management tool

Farmers used the skills and experiences acquired to manage their own farms with respect to Xanthomonas wilt control and many farms subsequently emerged as demonstration sites for

Figure 1: Farmer in Kiboga explaining and sharing M&E records. the respective villages (Fig. 2). Scientists and extensionists alike collected this information from such farmers for the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of the recommendations to others in other areas affected by Xanthomonas wilt. Similarly political and other community leaders plus other stakeholders would be encouraged that the cultural control strategies were effective and would readily incorporate the recommendations in the programmes. This had tremendous impact in some areas where farmers were not controlling the disease thinking Xanthomonas wilt is impossible to manage. Some of the socioeconomic data collected also helped to demonstrate / show the importance of banana in food and income security in the respective areas (Tables 1 and 2).

The result of this implementation is graphically represented to show that de-budding and destroying diseased plants to remove the source of XW inoculum pays off (Fig. 3).

Farmers’ testimonies diagnostic and management tools

Several testimonies were given by farmers about de-budding destruction of infected plant material and decontamination of field tools and implements advocated in the control strategy against Xanthomonas wilt. These included the observation that de-budding controls

- 64 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Figure 2: BXW control and monitoring at Mr Sentongo’s Kayinja farm.

Table 1: Data collected from other stakeholders.

Year Sales/Lorries/wk Mkt dues Ush/month

May 2005 100 2.8m May 2006 40 1.4m May 2007 60 2.4m

Table 2: Data collected by Communtiy based trainers in Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P) Sub-counties.

Sub-county No. of households No. of farms currently No. of farms practicing with bananas with BXW BXW control

Busaana 2686 72 2000 Nyenga 1933 1167 1212 Makulubita 1723 1219 1004 Nakaseke 933 644 703 Kasangombe 800 418 382 Kangulumira 841 147 694 Kapeeke 564 437 419 Nnama 525 250 350 Wakyato 209 128 308 Kikamulo - 141 141

Sub Total 10214 4797 6157 (63%)

- 65 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

Amount of banana sold in various villages at different levels of infection

120 Kwanzane 100 Ndugutu No Namasangale . 80 Kyakanyogo of Nakasaga bu 60 nc Bugyengye 40 he Nakaziba 20 Lwegula 0 Before BBW Peak of BBW Current Levels of infection Figure 3: Other stakeholders’ data.

Xanthomonas wilt at farm level. This activity was especially effective in kayinja farming system where insect transmission is more important. Secondly, debudded kayinja banana bunches were bigger than those not debudded. Moreover, the debudded kayinja bunches matured faster and produced more juice per bunch than those that were not. Also observed is that banana fingers are more uniform as compared to non-de-budded banana. Lastly, juice does not become less concentrated as previously speculated by beer brewers.

Strengths of the PM&E

The participatory M&E approach adopted had several advantages. First, the entire community participated in analysing progress on control and modifying the control strategy, where necessary. Secondly, farmers fully participated in M&E and owned the process. Moreover, data collected was readily acceptable as accurate because a farmer’s testimonies could be cross-checked by other farmers in the same locality. Additionally, farmers’ testimonies encouraged others in the community to take up control measures. Finally, the approach provided opportunities to capture farmers’ memories that were then documented for research planning.

Conclusions

1. PME re-enforced community mobilisation and sensitisation is needed to trigger collective action against the disease; 2. PME facilitated and strengthened the ownership of the Xanthomonas wilt problem by the rural communities; 3. PME was adopted as a useful farm management tool that was useful for othe farming activities other than the management of Xanthomonas wilt in bananas.

- 66 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Acknowledgment

We acknowledge farmers and all other banana stakeholders from sub-counties to the development partners: DFID, GATSBY, KILIMO Trust, GOU, ASPS, the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries- Crop Protection Department, ASARECA and Bioversity International for their support.

Plenary discussion: Case studies on XW management

Comment 1. There is need for regional information exchange and surveillance

Response 1. The regional framework for this collaboration is availablefor example through BARNESA but what is missing is the financial capacity to push it. For the moment, there are a number of web pages on NARO and Bioversity websites. The latest information is being prepared to revise the web page on the Bioversity websites. There is, however, to coordinate and link the sites across the collaborating institutions.

Comment 2. There is a need to have standard tools and approaches for data collection and exchange: standard format for data; where are the critical areas?

Response 2. The Diagnostic and Management Guide will continue to be peer-reviewed and the final copy made available on the web.

Comment 3. Given the situation in Burundi where ther seems to be the problem of mixing BXW symptoms with those of Panama disease, there is a need to help the country to have a tool especially for diagnosis of Fusarium vs Xanthomonas wilt ( e g fact sheets about XW and FOC).

Comment 4. There is an urgent need for ex-ante assessment of massive action (uprooting 400 ha in Rwanda) with respect to the environment, livelihoods of the peasants and to translate these into economic terms.

Comment 5. There was concern about integrating the approaches for handling Xanthomonas wilt with those of handling other pests and diseases. Members agreed that the work would be too much and current efforts should concentrate on Xanthomonas wilt.

Response 5. This is true for the disease-free but threatened and the front line disease typologies. In the case of the endemic region, it may be cheaper to integrate the Xanthomonas wilt strategies into the overall IPDM strategies Proceedings of the workshop on review of the strategy for the management of banana Xanthomonas wilt Printed in Uganda. All rights reserved © 2009, Bioversity International pp. 69 - 72

Evaluation of the diagnostic and management tools deployed for the control of Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

E. Karamura, J. Muhangi and W. Tinzaara Bioversity International National Agricultural Research Organization, Uganda

Objectives

At the October 2006 Tier1 training of trainers’ workshop, a number of diagnostic and management tools and approaches were discussed and subsequently disseminated to workshop participants, all of whom came from the 6 C3P countries. The Kigali workshop, in part was aimed at evaluating the performance of the tools as reported by the project country NARS. Hence the overall objective of the session was to evaluate the Xanthomonas wilt diagnostic and management tools, one year after dissemination and select the best practices for up- and out-scaling into the region agaist the wilt.

The specific objectives were:

• Develop a set of criteria for the evaluation management practices • Evaluate the diversity of management actions taken against XW; and • Select the practices for up-and out-scaling Xanthomonas wilt management practices.

Methodology

In order to harmonize the evaluation of the tools, participants developed criteria for quantitatively comparing the various tools employed and subsequently applied the criteria on the diagnostic and management tools deployed against the Xanthomonas wilt of bananas. This effectively resulted into the selection of the best practices that the workshop would consider scaling up and out. Five Xanthomonas wilt management strategic areas were targeted for discussion, including

(a) capacity strengthening for competences for disease recognition (or symptoms), mechanisms of spread/transmission, and control; (b) public awareness for all stakeholders to mobilize collective action against the disease; (c) diagnosis/symptoms to enhance correct targeting of control measures; (d) control of the disease at the grass-roots to cover what/when/why for the measures recommended (=farmer empowerment); and (e) institutional mechanisms that include participatory approaches and task force operations. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa The workshop discussed the criteria for evaluating the tools (best practices) for the management of Xanthomonas wilt, to include:

(i) the probability of success; (ii) ease of application of the desired practices; (iii) returns to investment; (iv) effect of the practices on the environment; and (v) sustainability of the recommended options.

The criteria were give weights according to their potential contribution to the control of the wilt. The evaluation of the Xanthomonas wilt management practices and/or options also took into account the country updates, the case study reports and field day discussions to select those that would be recommended for up- and out-scaled into the region. At the end of the evaluation exercise, the tools were divided into those that related to:

(a) cultural / biological practices (b) institutional mechanisms, and (c) awareness creation and capacity building practices, before comparing the tools across the board.

Results and Discussion a) Cultural / biological practices

Among this category of tools, debudding came out as the most effective, mainly in the ABB- based cropping systems where the dominant meachanism of disease spread is by flying vectors, largely insects that forage the male bud florets for nectar. The participating respondents reported drastic changes in incidence rates when this tool was regularly and correctly applied and vice-versa. As can be observed from Table 1, the other control measures in this category were ranked high need to be applied at the same time. There were not significant differences between the destruction of diseased plants and the use of clean planting materials, probably because use of clean plating materials works only when disease planting materials have been completely destroyed and the innoculum in the soil eliminated. b) Institutional mechanisms

The variation within institutional mechanisms (Table 2) was minimal but in general this category of tools provides the framework through with the cultural biological control measures operate

Table 1: Comparison within cultural / biological practices.

Practice Mean

De-budding 73.2 ± 3.7 Disinfection of tools (using Jik or fire) 62.4 ± 3.5 Destruction of diseased plants 56.9 ± 4.2 Clean plating materials 51.9 ± 7.7

- 70 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Table 2: Mean comparison within the Institutional mechanisms.

Practice Mean

Task Forces formation 58.4 ± 3.8 Mobilization of stakeholders 62.5 ± 3.7 Formulation of Action plans 58.4 ± 4.7 Enforcement of by-laws 56.1 ± 3.0 Monitoring , supervision and Evaluation 59.7 ± 3.0 and/or are executed. Their effect largely re-enforces the cultural-biological measures and may make the difference between success and failure of a Xanthomonas wilt control programme. Like cultural-biological measures, institutional meachanisms have to be applied in totality to realise the desired changes. c) Awareness creation and capacity building practices

In this category (Table 3), long term approaches and those measures that appeared expensive were deamed less important for control of Xanthomonas wilt than short term ones. These were management options that had not tried due to the limitations of funds. Thus certificate training, molecular characterisation, documentaries and exchange visits were all given low scores. On the contrary symptom recognition, posters, brochures, training of trainers and use of media were scored high. This provides a regional picture but the country level the underlying lesson would be to analyse the local situation before deciding what cocktail of tools to deploy against the disease.

Table 3: Comparison within awareness creation and capacity building practices.

Practice Mean

Training of trainers 64.1 ± 4.7 Posters, Brochures and Pamphlets 59.7 ± 8.3 Field Exchange visits 57.0± 4.1 Media 58.4 ± 4.9 Documentaries 57.7 ± 3.5 Certificates 55.9 ± 4.9 Symptom analysis 64.2 ± 4.0 Molecular characterization 57.7 ± 4.8

Finally, when all the measures were compared together, it emerged that the practioners of the diagnostic and management tools for the contol of Xanthomonas wilt, recommended a combination of the three categories- cultural-biological, institutional mechanisms and awareness creation/capacity building options (Table 4). Nevertheless three of the five most important measures were cultural-biological. The four- debudding, symptom recognition and destruction of infected pant material have been termed the first-line-of-action measures against Xanthomonas wilt epidemic. However, equally important is the need to raise public awareness (posters, brochures, radio and other media) and instituting task forces to oversee the execution of control measures deep into the rural areas where, otherwise the disease could ravage the crop unreported.

- 71 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Table 4: BXW management practices as ranked by participants.

Practice Respondents (%) Overall rank

Debudding 97.4 1 Brochures, pamphlets and leaflets 96.3 2 Symptom recognition 95.2 3 Destruction of infected plants 92.6 4 Formation of task forces 92.0 5 Radio & TV talk shows 88.9 6 Monitoring and Evaluation 88.8 7 Farmer exchange visits 81.5 8 Use clean planting materials 81.3 9 Formulate action plans 81.2 10 Documentaries 74.1 11 Training of trainers 62.6 12 Certificate training 59.3 13 Enforce bye-laws 44.4* 14 Molecular characterization 44.1* 15

In utilising these results, however care must be taken to analyse the local situation with respect, for example of the dominant cropping systems. In ABB-based cropping systems like in central Uganda and lower Burundi, the dominant disease transmission mechanism may be through insect vectors. In AAA-east African highland banana systems dominating much of south-westrn Uganda, Kagera region of Tanzania, into Rwanda and the highlands of eastern DR Congo, insected –mediated infection is less important and contaminated tools take over as the dominant means of transmission. Equally important is to be able to identify the epidemic drivers by assesing the possible mechanisms of spread. For example in the ABB-based cropping systems, the keydrivers for the epidemic could be the susceptible (to disease infection) cultivar such as Kayinja, a traditional practice of not debudding beer bananas, suitable climate that favours the abudance of nectar foraging insects, etc.

Conversely, in the AAA-east African highland bananas, the use of contaminated field tools, the presence of a flourishing trade/exchange of fresh plant material between endemic and disease-free but threatened areas, the presence of a laxed plant quarantine service and an unaware farming and non-farming public, would all drive the disease to epidemic proportions. It is therefore important to identify the agro-ecological system in question and the key disease drivers as a basis for designing appropriate and effective control strategies to deploy.

Working group discussion

The session was aimed at capturing any information that could have been missed in the discussion of the country updates and case study reports. In particular it was necessary to understand from the field practioners of the Xanthomonas wilt diagnostic and management tools what information gaps they encountered. This was critical because the presence of both researchers who designed the tools and presented case studies and the extension who applied the tools on farm and presented country reports. Groups discussed challenges with respect to regional surveillance mechanisms, application of diagnostic and management tools, and strengthening regional collaboration and each group produced both technical institutional recommendations for strengthening the fight against Xanthomonas wilt of bananas in east and central Africa. The results of the working group discussion are presented below as information gaps.

Information gaps

(a) Validate farmers’ interventions/coping strategies

Farmers in the region are trying different options such replacing bananas with root crops, sugar cane and a host of cereals some of which are suspected and/or potential alternate hosts of the disease.

(b) Intercropping (method of land preparation, the type of crop etc.)

In the great lakes region, intercropping banana with annual and perennial crops has intensified due to population pressure. Intensification methods employed need to be investigated for their possible effects on Xanthomonas wilt spread within and between mats.

The viability of Xanthomonas wilt in the soil under diverse agro-ecological conditions has remained a subject of dispute, with some reports estimating as long as six months, while others make it as short as a few weeks. Farmers need to know when they can return to the same field with bananas, following the destruction of infected materials.

(d) When and where to use herbicides taking into account agro-ecological zones

The choice of herbicides for the destruction of infected fields under diverse agro-ecologies and population / land pressures remains to be sorted out. Moreover environmental and safety concerns of some herbicides will need to be addressed before farmers can confidently employ the recommended herbicides. Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa 1. Variability of the pathogen across the region need to be determined, through collection of isolates

Reports from a number of countries that they may be dealing with one pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv musacearum did not convince a number of scientists who view the diversity of crop symptoms to possibly mean pathogen diversity. Targeted research may be needed to dispel these views either way.

2. Determine if cigar rot disease predispose the female flowers to Xanthomonas wilt infection

In Rwanda, the high incidence of Xanthomonas wilt in cigar-end infected gardens also observed during the field trip, made some to postitulate a linkage between the two diseases.

3. Determine how long the bacterium takes from the flower to the corm

In insect-mediated Xanthomonas wilt infection, it has been confirmed experimentally that infection of the whole mat can be arrested by cutting off the infected “tree”, especially if this can be done in the very early stages of infection. This has also raised the need to understand the disease movement from the infection courts on the male bud, through the male rachis, the female flower and down the “tree” trunk to the corm, at which point it will infect the attached suckers. For practical management, there is also a need to estimate how long it will take the disease to move from the male bud to the corm so that a farmer can know when to cut the infected “tree” to save the mat.

4. Appropriate and user-friendly technologies for the disinfection of tools

There was concurrence that the current methods for the decontamination of tools are not appropriate / user-friendly; hence the need to search for other disinfection methods.

5. Determine vector-disease dynamics across the region

The vector-disease-host dynamics for Xanthomonas wilt in the region was high-lighted in the February 2005 BARNESA strategy as needing urgent attention but this has not been addressed as yet. Information about variations in the vector populations at different altitudes and agro- ecologies still require validation and so is the need to establish vector efficiency with regard to disease transmission.

6. The role of run offs in spread of Xanthomonas wilt along the slope

In the hilly banana ecologies of East and Central Africa, it has been postulated that run-offs down hill may be an important means of disease transmission between fields. This hypothesis will need to be investigated for its validity and redress.

7. Evaluation of indigenous Xanthomonas wilt control measures

Faced with the disease pressure, farmers have employed a number of control options, including herbal bactericides, ashes, etc, varying from place to place. These measures need to be investigated and validated to assist the desperate farmers to address their disease control challenges.

- 74 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa Plenary discussion and workshop recommendations a. Regional surveillance and information exchange between stakeholders i. Create regional Xanthomonas wilt coordination centre for data management ii. Create/formalize national Xanthomonas wilt coordination centre for data management iii. Review and refine existing national surveillance methods/ tools iv. Consolidate the national surveillance methods to formulate regional standardized methods/ tools v. Develop standard methods/tools for data collection to ensure quality across the regional vi. Developed modalities on data sharing between member countries and the regional center b. Farmer versus state initiatives

Incentives for farmers to control Xanthomonas wilt should take into account the challenge of problem ownership and should use participatory approaches to ensure sustainability of the strategies. In this regard financial and/or food incentives to farmers in some cases may undermine the all-important need to have the farmers empowered with skills and knowledge to own the problem c. Need for more coordination of Xanthomonas wilt activities of different players

Both at national and regional levels, the coordination of various stakeholder inputs is far from ideal, resulting in uncoordinated and sometimes loss of much needed synergies. In particular there is a need to link and coordinate with the efforts of development partners across the region in order to maximize resource usage by exploiting synergies. d. Farmer-research-extension linkages need to be strengthened

The workshop singled out the need to strengthen farmer-extension-research linkages to enhance the speed of adoption of recommended measures on one hand and the development of research activities, on the other. It was agreed that the sustainability of recommended options is greatly enhanced if all introduced technologies are evaluated in participatory trials on farm. In this regard more sensitization of farmers about new options or the management of the disease was needed. e. Strengthened monitoring and evaluation at national and regional levels

Participatory monitoring and learning tools developed and disseminated by Bioversity were not fully used and this has led to limited lessons being picked for the improvement of the Xanthomonas wilt control. f. Standardize Xanthomonas wilt diagnostic and management tool (s)

The workshop noted the need to have standard tools for the assessment and management of Xanthomonas wilt and asked NARO-Uganda, Bioversity International and IITA to take lead of this critical input.

- 75 - Management of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa g. Sites for up- and out-scaling

Within each country, it was noted that there were new out breaks. In Uganda, the epidemic is moving in and around areas where the disease has been controlled and where farmer field school program has not taken root. Hence, in the districts of Kibale and Mityana, the epidemic attacks/strengths are comparable with those of Rwanda’s Rubavu district. Similar situations are encountered in DR Congo, underscoring to the need for within-country up-scaling of practices known to effectively control the disease. In addition, it was noted that in order to prevent resurgence of the disease in areas where it had been brought under control, a programme of farmer field schools should be established to empower farmers with skills and knowledge for XW recognition and management. For the new infestation areas (Rwanda/Burundi/Kenya), a number of sites were identified into where proven practices can be out-scaled.

Regional coordination Committee

N. Steering committee

N. Technical committee

Farmers National coordinator

Working groups • Research Task forces • Awareness (district and lower) • PM&E

Figure 1: Regional structure for management of BXW.

A number of structures have been contemplated for coordination of both national and regional level activities to ensure synergies and / or maximize resource use and mobilization. This too would be greatly enhanced by the development of standard diagnostic and surveillance tools and Bioversity International, IITA and NARO-Uganda were asked to facilitate this effort.

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List of participants

1. Dusengemungu Leonidas 5. Hakizimana Slyvestre Research AssistantInstitut des Sciences Head of Banana ProgramInstitute de Agronomiques duRwanda (ISAR) Recherche Agronomique et P.O. BP 138, Butare, Rwanda Zootechnique de la CEPGEL (IRAZ)B.P Tel: +250 530 145 91, Gitega, Burundi Fax : +250 530 145 Tel: +257 2240 3020 / 21 Mob: +250 086 17194 Mob: +257 7773 4240 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

2. Gaidashova Svetlana 6. Hakizimana Sylvain Scientist / Phd Student Institut des Project Manager Crop Crisis Control Sciences Agronomiques duRwanda B.P ProjectCatholic Relief Service (CRS) 138, Butare, Rwanda P. O. Box 65, Kigali, Rwanda Tel: + 250 530 558 Tel: +250 82126 Mob: + 250 085 38707 Fax: +250 82127 Fax: + 250 530 145 Mob: +250 084 62946 Email: [email protected] ; Email: [email protected]; [email protected] [email protected]

3. Gallagher T. Sean 7. Handoro Fikre Country RepresentativeCatholic Relief ScientistSouthern Agricultural Research Service (CRS) Institute P. O. Box 65, Kigali, Rwanda P.O. Box 06 Awassa, Ethiopia Tel: +250 582 114 Tel: +251 220 4000/ 9342 Fax: +250 582 126 Mob: +256 774 753 336 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] [email protected] 8. Inzaule S. S. Sanya 4. Hakizamungu Leon Senior Research OfficerKenya Head of Crop Protection UnitRwanda Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Agriculture Development Authority P.O.Box 169, Kakamega, Kenya (RADA) Tel: +254 563 0031 P. O. Box 538, Kigali, Rwanda Mob: +254 724 468 766 Tel: +250 55102653 / 2618 Email: [email protected] Mob: +250 086 86690 Email: [email protected] List of participants 9. Kalibata A. Agnes P.O.Box 16 or 127, Bukoba, Tanzania Permanent Secretary Ministry of Tel: +255 715 340255 Agriculture BP 621, Kigali, Rwanda Mob: +255 784 340255 Tel: +250 584 644 Email:[email protected] Fax: +250 584 644 15. Muchunguzi K. Justinian 10. Karamura Eldad District Agricultural Extension Regional Coordinator Bioversity OfficerMuleba District Council International P. O. Box 57, Muleba, Kagera, Tanzania P.O. Box 24384, Kampala Tel: +255 28 2221893 Tel: +256 414 286 213 Fax: +255 28 2222768 Fax: +256 414 286 949 Mob: +255 28 753220912 Mob: +256 712 286 948 Email: [email protected] 16. Mugabe Jonas Deputy Director-General and Director 11. Kubiriba Jerome of Research Institut des Sciences Research Officer Banana Programme Agronomiques duRwanda BP 5016, Leader National Agricultural Research Kigali, Rwanda Laboratories Institute, Kawanda Tel: +250 578 768 P.O.Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda Fax: +250 578 768 Tel: +256 256 567 158 Mob: +250 083 08768 Fax: +256 414 566 381 Email:[email protected] Mob: +256 773 155 760 Email: [email protected] 17. Muhangi Justus Research Scientist/Data 12. Marandu F. Eliawoni ManagerNational Agricultural Research Crop Crisis Control Project Catholic Laboratories Institute, Kawanda Relief Service (CRS) P.O.Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda P.O. Box 1687, Mwanza, Tanzania Tel: +256 414 567 158 Tel: +255 282 502 257 Fax: +256 414 566 381 Mob: +255 784 531359 Mob: +256 772 332 533 Email: [email protected] or Email:[email protected] [email protected] 18. Muhinyuza John Baptist 13. Masanza Michael Scientist (Plant pathology)Institut des Senior Agricultural Inspector, Ministry Sciences Agronomiques duRwandaB.P of Agriculture Animal Industry & 138, Butare, Rwanda Fisheries (MAAIF)P.O.Box 102, Tel: +250 084 36482 Entebbe, Uganda Mob: +250 084 36482 Tel.: +256 041 567 158 Fax: +250 530 145 Mob: +256 772 412 894 Email: [email protected] Fax: +256 041 566 381 Email:[email protected] 19. Murekezi Charles Visiting Scientist/ Head of Banana 14. Mgenzi S. R Byabachwezi ProgramIITA/ Institut des Sciences Principal Researcher Agriculture Agronomiques du Rwanda B.P 138, Research and Development Institute - Butare, Rwanda Maruku

- 85 - List of participants Tel: +250 530 145 25. Odero Benard Onyango Mob: +250 085 78524 Country Program ManagerCrop Crisis Fax: +250 530 145 Control Project Catholic Relief Service Email: [email protected] (CRS) P.O. Box 49675, Nairobi, Kenya 20. Nakato Gloria Valentine Tel: +254 020 421 0000 Research Scientist International Mob:+254 733 401 401 Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Email: [email protected] P.O.Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256 712 965 646 26. Odoi Naiboka Nora Mob: +256 712 965 646 Development Communication Email: [email protected]; SpecialistNational Agricultural [email protected] Research Laboratories Institute, Kawanda 21. Ndungo Vigheri P.O.Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda Dean of Agricultural FacultyGraben Tel: +256 414 567 158 UniversityBP 29, Butembo, Nord-Kivu, Fax: +256 414 566 381 DR Congo Mob: +256 772 524 642 Mob: +243 99 838 5952 Email:[email protected] Email:[email protected] 27. Peacock John 22. Nemeye Sebba Pontiano Chief of PartyCrop Crisis Control CIAT-TSBF ScientistInstitut des Project Catholic Relief Service (CRS)C/ Sciences Agronomiques duRwanda o International Institute of Tropical B.P 138 ,Butare, Rwanda Agriculture(IITA), Tanzania Tel: +250 530 145 P.O Box 6226, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Mob: +250 085 78524 Mob: +255 75 393 5572 Fax: +250 530 145 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 28. Phemba Phezo 23. Night Gertrude Project ManagerCrop Crisis Control Senior ScientistInstitut des Sciences Project Catholic Relief Service (CRS) Agronomiques duRwanda P. O. Box 73, Bukavu, DR Congo Ruhengeri, Rwanda Mob: +243 81 715 2561 Tel: +250 086 80172 Email:[email protected]; Mob: +250 086 80172 [email protected] Email: [email protected] 29. Sendege Norbert 24. Niyongere Celestin Head of Crop Production UnitRwanda Chef of Fruits and Vegetables Program Agriculture Development Authority Institute of Agricultural Sciences of (RADA)BP 4251, Kigali, Rwanda Burundi (ISABU)B.P 795, Bujumbura, Tel: +250 518631 Burundi Fax: +250 518631 Tel: +257 2222 7350 / 9375 Mob: +250 085 21320 Mob: +257 77 702 012 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

- 86 - List of participants 30. Soka Geofrey 35. Zeleke Daniel Shimelash Associate Expert Bioversity Lecturer Wolaita Sodo University InternationalP.O. Box 24384, Kampala, P.O. Box 138, Sodo, Ethiopia Tel: +256 414 286 213 Tel: + 251 46 551 5216/17 Fax: +256 414 286 949 M ob: + 251 091 682 5395/916 825 395 Mob: + 256 752 672333 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Meeting Secretariat 31. Ssekiwoko Fred Research Scientist National 36. Lwasa Siifa Agricultural Research Laboratories Programme Assistant Bioversity Institute, Kawanda P.O.Box 7065, International Kampala, Uganda P.O. Box 24384,Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256 414 567 158 Tel: +256 414 286 213 Fax: +256 414 566 381 Fax: +256 414 286 949 Mob: +256 782 353 933 Mob +256 772 458 181 Email:[email protected] Email: [email protected]

32. Tinzaara William 37. Malimi Alphonce Associate ScientistBioversity Support StaffAgriculture Research and International Development Institute - Maruku P.O. Box 24384, Kampala, P.O.Box 127, Bukoba, Tanzania Tel: +256 414 286 213 Tel: +255 715 823 252 Fax: +256 414 286 949 Mob: +255 715 823 252 Mob: + 256 772 442 918 Email: [email protected] 38. Mbuga Herbert Accounts Assistant Bioversity 33. Tripathi Leena International Biotechnologist International Institute P.O. Box 24384,Kampala, of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Tel: +256 414 286 213 P.O.Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda Fax: +256 414 286 949 Tel: +256 414 285 060 Mob +256 712 270 988 Fax: +256 414 285 079 Email: [email protected] Mob: +256 752 787 817 Email:[email protected] 39. Ssemakula Christopher Support Staff 34. Turyagyenda Laban Frank Bioversity International Research AssociateBioversity P.O. Box 24384, Kampala, Uganda International Tel: +256 414 286 213 P.O. Box 24384, Kampala, Uganda Fax: +256 414 286 949 Tel: +256 414 286 213 Mob +256 772 546 895 Fax: +256 414 286 949 Email: [email protected] Mob: + 256 772 473 123 Email: [email protected]

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