Dr. Fen Beed, a scientist with the International Institute of TropicalAgriculture, says there?s ?particularly encouraging recognition? from someAfrican governments that the ?time is ripe? for the expansion and improvementof continental banana production. This, he says, can?t happen without thebacking of state authorities.
?You have to bear in mind that the mandate and the control overproduction within a country, and the opportunities that may exist within acountry, and also the diseases that may come into a country ? all of this isunder the control of the national governments. So without their cooperation, wecan?t do much at all,? Beed states from his laboratory in Kampala, Uganda.
Those drawing up the plan toboost banana output from Africa have praised the involvement of several of thecontinent?s governments in the initiative. They say authorities from Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda are especially interested.
?They showed not just theirwillingness to support this particular initiative, but also to follow throughand communicate and to try to create an enabling environment to boost bananaproduction in Africa,? Beed tells VOA.
The plantdisease specialist also praises the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa(FARA), which oversees the development of agriculture across the continent. FARAconsists of representatives of government agriculture departments, leadingagriculturalists at local and global universities, African and internationalresearch centers, farmers? organizations and so on. FARA?s affiliated with theNew Partnership for Africa?s Development (NEPAD).
Beed?s ?verypleased? that FARA has taken an ?active interest? in cooperating with all concernedto establish the banana as one of Africa?s top crops. He says FARA?sinvolvement in the initiative is of particular significance.
?They would actually like tobe used as a vehicle through which strategies developed could be housed?. Thefact that FARA would like to take over the ownership of the strategy in thefuture is more important than an individual organization, because it (theinitiative) does belong to Africa. And if FARA can take responsibility fororganizing the further development of the strategy, that?s more appropriate(than international groups taking the lead),? he explains.
Beed emphasizes that ?realempowerment and action happen at a local level,? not through internationalorganizations.
He also says it?s ?very significant?that the United Nations and regional economic blocs, such as the EconomicCommunity of West African States and the East African Community, are ?reactingwith favor? and promising support for the continent?s banana industry.
This, he says, couldeventually ensure that bananas become an ?economic driver? for Africa.
However,African farmers have often complained that most of the continent?s governments,even those flush with cash from mineral exports, aren?t investing in what isthe mainstay of African life, namely agriculture. They say African governmentsdon?t provide their farmers with capital, don?t improve crumbling transportsystems which make it very difficult for farmers to get their produce tomarkets, and heap unfairtaxes on farmers.
Thomas Dubois is a Belgianscientist working with Ugandan banana farmers to improve their yields. He saysit?s ?unfortunate? that African governments aren?t willing to fund agriculturalinputs, such as equipment.
?Growing banana plants in Africais really plagued by the fact that there are no inputs available; if they areavailable, they are very expensive. So farmers cannot reach the level ofproductivity you could normally reach,? Dubois explains.
Beed says Africangovernments generally tend to concentrate development on ?more saleable? cashcrops such as coffee, cotton and sugar, than on staple crops such as bananathat feed millions.
?And that?s becausegovernments consider them to be an internal issue. But the reality is (that)the internal issue is a real opportunity for economic development as well,? hepoints out.
Dubois, though, is convincedthat African governments are ?coming around to the fact that the banana doesn?tjust have to be a subsistence crop?. There?s also a tremendous amount of moneythat could be made from export revenue to exploit from bananas. I think thatgovernment is slowly but surely moving towards accepting that there ispotential for banana; it isn?t simply a traditional backwater practice?.?