Developing a regional strategy to address the outbreak of banana Xanthomonas wilt in East and Central Africa

• Document type : Book


• Year of publication : 2006


• Conference : Banana Xanthomonas Wilt Regional Preparedness and Strategy Development Workshop, Kampala (UGA), 2005/02/14-18


• Editors : Karamura, E.B.; Osiru, M.; Blomme, G.; Lusty, C.; Picq, C.


• Publisher(s) : INIBAP


• Place of publication : Montpellier


• ISBN : 2-910810-75-5


• Pages : 94


• Language(s) : English


• Abstract : This regional strategy for BXW aims to help mobilize and equip communities to prepare for potential outbreaks in advance of the disease, to respond to the epidemic at the advancing disease front, and to sustain production within the affected areas and provide a coordinated response. The strategy adopts both short- and long-term perspectives. In the short-term, robust diagnostic tools to facilitate disease recognition, management and control must be developed and disseminated, disease surveillance must be facilitated and mechanisms put in place to share critical, up-to-date information between countries. At all levels of the production-consumption chain, capacity to make positive contributions must be strengthened. In the medium-term, successful management tactics should be integrated into regional integrated pest and disease management strategies. A regional impact tracking mechanism should be established that provides feedback not just to scientists and research managers but also to policy makers; and a regional policy dialogue must be initiated to strengthen the coordination and management of trans-boundary epidemics that threatened food security and household income. In the long term, a systems approach should be adopted to boost the health of farming systems, taking full account of genetic diversity, the resource base and biotic stresses. Grass-roots ownership and sustainability should be ensured by deploying a livelihoods approach to improve prospects for marketing bananas and banana products. Indigenous germplasm threatened by the disease must also be effectively conserved in perpetuity to ensure that farmers can replant traditional genotypes once the effects of the epidemic have lessened. This strategic regional approach to address BXW is based on essential learning, from within and outside the region, gained from successfully controlling various other bacterial wilt diseases, and is in itself a model of a regional response to a disease epidemic. Such a strategic and comprehensive approach has the potential to bring the BXW epidemic in East and Central Africa under control and prevent its further spread. However, its success depends on the ability of the diverse partners in this effort to mobilize resources and government support to reach communities throughout affected areas and beyond - and then to ensure commitment to the disease management campaign and good practice in the longer term.


• Keywords : DISEASE CONTROL; BACTERIA; CONTROL METHODS; XANTHOMONAS CAMPESTRIS PV. MUSACEARUM; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA; CENTRAL AFRICA


• Open access : Yes


• PDF :


• Musalit document ID : IN060586

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