Battle with banana bunchy top disease

Banana bunchy top disease devastate banana and plantain crops
© Lava/IITA

In recent years, serious outbreaks of banana bunchy top disease have devastated banana and plantain crops in several central and southern African countries, including Malawi and Zambia. Recently the disease has also spread to southern Cameroon, from where Martha Chindong reports. At a field day organised by IITA, farmers learn about strategies for controlling the disease, such as uprooting and burning of infected plants, and use of disease-resistant planting material. Martha speaks to an agronomist and also to a farmer, to find out more about this disease, which in the last 20 years has become one of the most serious threats to banana production in the region.