Banana

Crop Overview

Banana is a crop consumed by millions of people in Africa, providing food security, income, and nutrition. However, banana faces many challenges, such as pests, diseases, low yield, and poor quality. Breeding better bananas is a key strategy to overcome these challenges and improve the livelihoods of banana farmers and consumers.

Research Goals

The RTB Breeding Better Bananas project applies advanced genomic technologies and novel breeding methods to improve banana breeding and deliver better varieties in Africa. This project aims to:

Use genomic selection and other best practices to increase the genetic gain and shorten the breeding cycle of banana.
Develop and deploy new banana varieties with higher yield, disease resistance, and quality traits preferred by farmers and consumers.
Build capacity and strengthen collaboration among banana breeding programs in Africa and beyond.
Engage with stakeholders and end-users to ensure our breeding is demand-driven and inclusive.

This unique project seeks to improve the production and productivity of banana in Tanzania and Uganda, through the development of hybrid banana varieties that are expected to have 30% higher yield compared to the current varieties grown by farmers under the same conditions. In particular, the project will strengthen the banana breeding programs in the two countries, towards developing new high-yielding hybrid banana varieties with resistance to key pests and diseases. The project is focused primarily on building an efficient breeding platform for banana and improving the two most popular cooking bananas in the region: East Africa highland banana (EAHB), also known as Matooke, and Mchare, fortifying resistance against pests and diseases but maintaining the traits enjoyed by consumers.

Varieties Released

Breeding Better Bananas has developed and released several new banana varieties in Africa that have improved yield, disease resistance, and quality traits. Some of these varieties are:

NARITA hybrids: A series of hybrids that combine disease resistance from wild bananas with the preferred qualities of East African Highland bananas, the cooking bananas that are a staple in the region¹.
PITA hybrids: A series of hybrids that combine disease resistance from wild bananas with the preferred qualities of plantains, the starchy bananas that are widely consumed in West and Central Africa².
FHIA hybrids: A series of hybrids that combine disease resistance from wild bananas with the preferred qualities of dessert bananas, the sweet bananas that are popular in global markets³.

Knowledge Generated

Breeding Better Bananas created genomic resources and tools for the global banana community, such as the 3rd Generation Hapmap, the BananaBase database, and the BananaBreed R package⁴. Breeding Better Bananas has also adopted genomic selection and other best practices that reduced the breeding cycle by more than half and increased the accuracy and efficiency of selection⁴. Breeding Better Bananas has conducted product profile and variety adoption studies to identify the traits and preferences of different segments of banana farmers and consumers⁵. Breeding Better Bananas established a network of banana breeders and stakeholders that fosters knowledge exchange and collaboration.