Banana farming in Kenya: Options for rejuvenating productivity

Abstract: 
Bananas constitute an important component of farm enterprises in the mid altitudes of central and eastern provinces of Kenya. In recent years the crop has steadily gained importance over traditional cash crops, e.g. coffee, and various short season horticultural crops grown mostly for export markets. Despite its increasing importance, the crop’s production faces intractable constraints. Interventions have previously focused on increasing availability of healthy seedlings and strengthening farmer capacity to manage pests. Recent indications are that there is need to re-think current approaches to enhancing productivity. Interventions should consider creating micro-financing and value addition opportunities, and extending technologies to cope with climate change effects.
Les bananes constituent un élément important des exploitations agricoles de moyenne altitude dans les provinces du centre et de l’est du Kenya. Ces dernières années, la culture n’a cessé de gagner en importance sur les cultures commerciales traditionnelles, par exemple, la culture de café et diverses cultures horticoles de courte saison effectuées principalement pour les marchés d’exportation. Malgré son importance croissante, la production de cette culture fait face à des contraintes insurmontables. Les interventions ont déjà porté sur la disponibilité croissante des semis sains et le renforcement de capacité des agriculteurs pour lutter contre les insectes ravageurs. Selon de récentes indications, il est nécessaire de repenser les approches actuelles pour améliorer la productivité. Les interventions devraient envisager la création de microfinancement et les possibilités de valeur ajoutée ainsi que l’extension des technologies pour faire face aux effets du changement climatique.
Language: 
English
Date of publication: 
2010
Country: 
Region Focus: 
East Africa
Author/Editor(s): 
University/affiliation: 
Collection: 
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Licence conditions: 
Open Access
Access restriction: 
Form: 
Printed resource
Publisher: 
ISSN: 
E_ISSN: 
Edition: 
Extent: 
901-905
Notes: 

"The 2010 RUFORUM Biennial Conference was the second in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholers in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme agronomy".