Banana Bunchy Top Disease Alliance – Page 6 – Banana Bunchy Top Disease Alliance

Alliance to control the escalating threat of banana bunchy top disease in Africa

The ‘alliance’ is a multinational, multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary team formed under the framework of the CGIAR Roots, Tubers and Banana (CRP-RTB) program, to mount a coordinated action to halt the expansion of banana bunchy top disease and recover banana production in the disease affected areas, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) is an invasive virus disease seriously threatening banana and plantain production in Africa. This disease caused by the Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) renders plants unproductive, eventually killing them. Extensive disease spread into new production areas was observed during the last two decades. The Alliance aims to conduct and coordinate R4D efforts to:

Understand the bunchy top disease epidemiology and ecology for a better knowledge on factors driving the disease spread
Develop appropriate management packages to delay the spread and manage the disease in endemic areas
Develop and distribute sensitive diagnostic tools, and develop capacity for disease recognition and knowledge of control options.
Augment host resistance to the virus and explore biocontrol options to manage aphid vector
Establish location-specific clean banana production and distribution systems, and train farmers and entrepreneurs in producing clean planting material
Train African scientists to continue surveillance on the extent of disease incidence to update the spatial distribution map of BBTV spread in SSA
Exert efforts to mobilize the resources necessary for a sustained and long-term initiative to achieve this mission

Alliance is coordinated by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Bioversity International, together with FAO and several national agricultural research systems (Bénin, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Zambia) and several research partners from Australia, Asia, Europe, India, Kenya, New Zealand, and USA.

Alliance reviews pilot control strategies for banana bunchy top disease in Africa

1st April 2015 1st April 2015blog post 0

Picture of Alliance member-partners at the Genebank

Members of the Alliance for Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) Control in Africa met at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria, 9-14 March, to share progress made during the first year of pilot site implementation in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa and to develop follow-up action. The meeting was attended by about 50…

Acting together against banana diseases in Africa

11th March 2015 11th March 2015blog post 1

More than 70 million people in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on banana for their livelihood and food supply. Their food security is being threatened by the arrival and spread of two devastating banana diseases – Banana Bunchy Top Disease and Banana Xanthomonas Wilt. An international meeting was convened…

RTB centers and partners prepare to battle Banana Bunchy Top Disease across Sub-Saharan Africa

11th February 2015 23rd April 2019Uncategorised 0

Approximately 50 experts from 20 countries have gathered in Bujumbura, Burundi this week to coordinate an ambitious effort to contain the spread of Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) in Africa and help farmers to recover from the devastation that disease has wrought. BBTD has spread rapidly across Southern Africa in recent decades,…