Banana Commodity Chain in Madagascar Eradicating Black
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The International Journal on Banana and Plantain Banana commodity chain in Madagascar Eradicating black Sigatoka in Australia Genetic diversity of Mycosphaerella in Colombia Effect of planting hole depth Safeguarding banana diversity Vol. 14 No.2 December 2005 InfoMusa Cover photo: Vol. 14 No.2 Samuel Addo from Ghana (Alphonse N. Attey) INFOMUSA Vol. 14, No. 2 Publisher: International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain Publishing director: Claudine Picq Editor: Anne Vézina Editorial Committee: Charlotte Lusty, Richard Markham, Nicolas Roux, Mike Smith, Charles Staver Layout: Crayon & Cie Printed in France ISSN 1023-0076 Contents Editorial Office: INFOMUSA, INIBAP, Parc Scientifique Economics of the Madagascan commodity chain Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier Cedex 5, L. Temple, A.H.J. Rakotomalala and T. Lescot 2 France. Telephone + 33-(0)4 67 61 13 02; Telefax: + 33-(0)4 67 61 03 34; E-mail: [email protected] Eradication of black leaf streak disease from banana-growing Subscriptions are free for developing areas in Australia countries readers. Article contributions and letters to the editor are welcomed. R. Peterson, K. Grice and R. Goebel 7 Articles accepted for publication may be edited for length and clarity. INFOMUSA Field evaluation of strobilurins, triazoles and acibenzolar to is not responsible for unsolicited material, control Sigatoka disease in Australia however, every effort will be made to respond to queries. Please allow three L.L. Vawdrey and K. Grice 11 months for replies. Unless accompanied by a copyright notice, articles appearing in Fulvic acid applications for the management of diseases caused INFOMUSA may be quoted or reproduced without charge, provided acknowledgement by Mycosphaerella spp. is given of the source. J. Hernando Escobar Vélez and J. Castaño Zapata 15 French-language and Spanish-language editions of INFOMUSA are also published. Genetic diversity of Colombian isolates of Mycosphaerella fijensis An electronic version is available at the following address: Morelet based on microsatellite markers http://www.inibap.org/publications/infomusa/ I. Perea, E. Rodríguez Arango, E. Márquez and R. Arango 18 infomusa_eng.htm To avoid missing issues of INFOMUSA, notify the editorial office at least six weeks in Estimation of the size of the root system using core samples advance of a change of address. H.H. Mukasa, D. Ocan, P.R. Rubaihayo and G. Blomme 21 Views expressed in articles are those The effect of planting hole depth on Musa spp. shoot and root of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of INIBAP. development G. Sebuwufu, P.R. Rubaihayo and G. Blomme 24 Evaluation of a method to simultaneously screen Musa germplasm against multiple nematode species D.L. Coyne and A. Tenkouano 27 The effect of oxidative stress on ‘Berangan’ and ‘Mas’ cultivars C. Tsun-Thai, N.A.M. Fadzillah, M. Kusnan and M. Mahmood 32 The mission of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain is Focus on Asia region 36 to sustainably increase the productivity of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings Focus on Musa conservation 37 for domestic consumption and for local and export markets. INIBAP is a network of the International Theses 40 Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), a Future Harvest centre. MusaNews 44 InfoMusa - Vol. 14 No. 2, December 2005 1 An electronic future for INFOMUSA? Editorial roviding information support to the Musa research and development community has always been an important part of INIBAP’s core business Pand INFOMUSA is a key element in our information dissemination strategy. Over the last 20 years we have adapted somewhat to the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) by producing electronic copies of our publications, but we have resisted going entirely electronic. One of the reasons is that the reach of INFOMUSA is much greater as a paper publication than an electronic one (nearly 60% of INFOMUSA subscribers have not registered an e-mail address with us). So for the time being we don’t intend to stop producing paper copies of INFOMUSA, but financial constraints – namely the reduced amount of discretionary funding available for publishing INFOMUSA – might force us to reduce the number of issues printed in a year. Producing an electronic version only of INFOMUSA would certainly reduce costs, even when taking into account the cost of producing HTML pages (at present INFOMUSA is only available electronically as a PDF of its two-column layout, which doesn’t lend itself to reading on the screen and shifts the burden of printing to our readers). We are considering developing this service as part of our strategy to improve the access to our information products through our website. A greater reliance on ICT could help us increase our readership. For example, an electronic newsletter drawing attention to INFOMUSA articles and other types of news could be sent to donors, partners and media outlets, in addition to our subscribers. And as the digital divide is bridged, we could consider a transition to an increasingly electronic INFOMUSA. As we search for the most appropriate balance between conventional and high-tech solutions to the challenge of cost-effectively delivering information, we would like to know what you think. And to improve communication with all our subscribers, we urge those of you who have acquired an e-mail address since subscribing to INFOMUSA to send it to us at [email protected] The editors InfoMusa - Vol. 14 No. 2, December 2005 1 Economic analysis Economics of the banana commodity chain in Madagascar L. Temple, A.H.J. Rakotomalala and T. Lescot he demographic growth of the industry (Scanagri 2003) and the results Malagasy population is creating of a survey of a sample of growers and T a favourable environment for an merchants in the industry done as part of a increase in banana production which university thesis (Rakotomala 2003). represents nearly 20% of the fruit supply The methodological principles used are of the population. The dessert bananas, those of an a commodity chain approach. locally called Batavia or Bitavia, mainly They lead successively to locate the main belong to the Cavendish varietal sub- production centres, to study how prices are group and represent more than 75% of arrived at and to describe the operation of the national banana production. Bananas the marketing system so as to analyse its are also eaten cooked, mainly within the efficiency. production areas. This consumption has recently increased, replacing rice during Results and discussion the season of shortage on the east coast Production conditions of the island. Apart from several commercial plantations, The production of bananas in Madagascar bananas are grown mostly on small family grew rapidly until 1975 when it reached farms with an average area of 0.3 ha, or its highest level (about 400 000 tonnes) 500 – 700 plants per grower (Bé 2003, boosted by technical assistance societies to Randrianavoson 2002). These farms, 1 encourage exports (to France between 1961 because of their structure and financial and 1971). Production then fell, stabilizing resources, are barely able to pay for their in 1979 (Figure 1). Since 1964, its growth inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. has been steady but slow, levelling out at With an average of 6 tonnes of bananas 290 000 tonnes after 2002 (FAO-STAT). per hectare, the yields are very low This increase is not enough in view of the compared with the potential obtainable population growth. The annual availability of on a research station, which can reach bananas per person fell from 60 kg in 1974 100 tonnes/ha in certain very intensive to 18 in 2002 (Figure 2). With the objective production systems. The available data of returning to a level of availability of 26 kg (FAOSTAT) show a fall in yields between (the average availability calculated over 20 1983 and 2004 (Figure 1). These averaged years) and by taking account of the current data do not reveal yield trends in particular population increase (2.8% per year), it geographical locations or with particular would be necessary to almost double the production systems. The available work production of bananas in Madagascar in underlines the growing importance of less than five years, i.e. to produce more pests and diseases, mainly black leaf than 230 000 extra tonnes. The object of streak disease, weevil and other diseases this article is to consider the conditions of still being identified, but also a lack of production and marketing which determine good husbandry, notably plant nutrition the capacity of this industry to adapt to the (especially nitrogen and potassium). quantitative challenges presented by the Between 1976 and 1986 the province food security of the country. of Toamasima in the east contributed on Materials and methods average 51% of the national supply. In As to methodology, this article makes use 1999, with 61 108 tonnes, it provided no of the data collected from a panel of about more than 36% of the country’s production twenty experts consulted as part of a study (Rakotomalala 2003). This decline in made to relaunch the Madagascan banana production is mainly due to a rapid increase in pest and disease problems (Scanagri 1 Exports reached at their maximum 33 000 tonnes. They 2003). Meanwhile, banana production has collapsed in 1970. developed in the south-east of the island. 2 InfoMusa - Vol. 14 No. 2, December 2005 InfoMusa - Vol. 14 No. 2, December 2005 3 2 Info Musa - Vol. 14No. 2,December2005 -Vol. Info Figure 2. Evolution of banana availability per person in Madagascar. Figure 1. Evolution of banana production and banana yield in Madagascar since 1961. 17 000 and 25 000 tonnes per year. Of the estimate the size of this market at between urban as opposed to rural areas, one can account of a lower banana consumption in supply of 18 kg per inhabitant and consumers.