2017 - 2018 Technical Report - More fruit for food security: developing climate-smart bananas for the African Great Lakes region

Abstract

The overarching goal of the project is to identify drought-tolerant banana cultivars to help close the yield gap in drought-prone areas. This project focus on the African Great Lakes region, which is one of the poorest areas in the world, encompassing Burundi, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), western Kenya, Rwanda, north-western Tanzania, and Uganda. The region is also one of the most important banana-growing areas in the world and is home to a unique group of banana cultivars that are well adapted to this unique colder highland environment.