AFRICANCROPS.NET

A Website on Improvement of African Crops and Seed Systems

 Background Information on Banana

Plantain and bananas serve as important food crops in much of Africa.  Together they provide more than 25% of carbohydrate needs of over 70 million people on the continent.  Cultivated bananas are derived from two species of the genus Musa, M. acuminata and M. balbisiana.  M. acuminata originates in Malaysia, while M. balbisiana originates in India.  Bananas cultivated in Africa are diploid and triploid genetic combinations of “A” and “B” genomes contributed by one or both of these species.

African bananas are grouped into three categories, including East African (mainly dessert) bananas (AA, AAA, ABB, and AB), the African plantain bananas (AAB) grown mainly in central and west Africa, and the East African Highland Banana (AAA), used for cooking and in beer preparation.  Although not of African origin, African bananas have evolved into an important zone of secondary genetic diversity.  In particular, the lowland regions of west Africa contain the world’s largest range of genetic diversity in plantain, while the highlands of east Africa are an important center of diversity of cooking bananas.

Banana is a clonally propagated plant.  Triploid genotypes are virtually or completely sterile and develop their fruit through vegetative parthenocarpy.  Diploid landraces and tetraploid cultivars (mostly artificial hybrids) are also cultivated.  Commercial production of banana and plantain are characterized by the use of a very limited number of varieties.  Cavendish, for example, is currently the most widely cultivated variety of desert banana, and is grown throughout the world, while Cuerno (Horn) is a widely cultivated variety of plantain.

Bananas and plantains are consumed in a wide variety of manners in Africa.  Dessert bananas are consumed raw as snacks and desserts.  Plantains are fried in various ways and eaten as side dishes and fast foods.  Cooking bananas and highland bananas are pounded into thick porridges (“fufu” and “matooke”).  Beer bananas are fermented and consumed as traditional wine in the Great Lakes regions of Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

Sub-Saharan Africa produces about 35% of the world’s bananas and plantains.  Banana and plantains have been estimated to supply more than 25% of the carbohydrates of approximately 70 million people in Africa’s humid forest and mid-altitude regions.