For over twenty years, Euphrasie Mukankaka, a 56-year-old farmer from Nzige Sector in Rwamagana District, relied on banana cultivation as her family’s main source of income.
Together with her husband, Mukankaka began farming bananas in the early 1990s and expanded their operations in 2000 after receiving training in improved agricultural techniques.
“By 2018, we had shifted to plantain varieties and expanded to 3.5 hectares,” she said. “We were harvesting around eight tonnes per month, earning about Rwf400,000 in profit, which covered all our household needs.”
But the steady livelihood that sustained her family began to collapse when a strange disease struck her banana plantation.
“It started with one plant turning yellow,” Mukankaka recalled. “Soon after, we heard on the radio about a banana disease called Kirabiranya or Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW).”
Following government advice, she uprooted and buried the infected plants, hoping to contain the outbreak. However, the disease spread rapidly—leaves yellowed, fruits darkened, and the once-thriving plantation withered.
By 2020, her harvest had plummeted from eight tonnes to less than half a tonne.
“We went from loading bananas onto trucks to carrying them on bicycles,” she said. “There was no income left—only losses.”
The family abandoned banana farming, turning to beans and other short-season crops. In 2023, they cautiously replanted bananas, hoping the soil had recovered. Two years later, they produce between 1.5 and 2 tonnes monthly, but disease pressure persists.
“We’re still struggling,” Mukankaka said. “If researchers at RAB or the Ministry of Agriculture can find a lasting solution, banana farming could once again be our strongest livelihood.”
Cooperatives Struggle to Recover
In Kirehe District, Kamara Cooperative, once one of the region’s most productive groups, faced similar devastation. Established in the early 2000s, the cooperative thrived until 2016 when BXW struck.
Founding member Emmanuel Bucyana said the disease wiped out nearly 60 percent of their weekly production in a single year.
“We used to harvest about 16 tonnes every week,” he said. “After the disease hit, production dropped by more than half, and farmers’ incomes fell from around Rwf100,000 to barely Rwf30,000 per week.”
The group, which had earlier fought Fusarium wilt, described BXW as far more aggressive. Membership dwindled from 500 to 250, forcing a temporary shift to maize cultivation. Three years later, they resumed banana farming on 350 hectares—focusing on both dessert and cooking varieties—though the threat of reinfection remains.
A Persistent Regional Threat
Banana wilt was first recorded in Rwanda in 2005. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes region currently yield about 6.25 tonnes per hectare—just a fraction of the potential 80 tonnes.
FAO warns that BXW poses a major risk to regional food security and livelihoods, capable of destroying entire plantations if not controlled. Similarly, Fusarium wilt, driven by the Foc TR4 pathogen, has ravaged commercial banana varieties like Cavendish worldwide, with projected losses reaching $10 billion by 2040.
Biotechnology Brings New Hope
To tackle the crisis, the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) plans to launch a biotechnology initiative by December. The programme will strengthen research facilities at Rubona and create a National Centre of Excellence focused on improving banana, cassava, and Irish potato productivity.
“We aim to develop banana varieties resistant to both BXW and Fusarium wilt,” said Athanase Nduwumuremyi, RAB’s Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Roots and Tubers Programme.
Rwandan scientist Anastasie Musabyemungu, currently pursuing her PhD in Plant Science in Kenya, has already engineered two genetically modified (GM) banana types—one for cooking and one for dessert—designed to resist BXW.
The work is being conducted in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the International Potato Center, and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).
“Trials in Uganda have shown positive results,” Nduwumuremyi said. “It could take three to five years before Rwanda approves and distributes these varieties to farmers.”
Musabyemungu explained that biotechnology significantly shortens breeding cycles:
“Traditional breeding takes over a decade, but GM technology can deliver resistant varieties within a few years,” she said.
Farmers Urge Faster Action
Pacifique Nshimiyimana, head of the Alliance for Science Rwanda, said GM research could also address the challenge of Fusarium wilt, which remains dormant in soil for up to 40 years.
“This makes eradication nearly impossible,” he said. “Developing disease-resistant banana varieties is the only sustainable path forward.”
National Targets and Outlook
Under Rwanda’s PSTA 5 strategy, banana yields declined by 16 percent between 2018 and 2023 due to BXW. Despite this, bananas still account for about 15 percent of the country’s dietary energy.
The government aims to raise yields from 14.2 tonnes per hectare in 2023 to 19.7 tonnes by 2028/29—boosting total production to 1.67 million tonnes.
Globally, research into GM bananas is advancing rapidly across Africa, Asia, South America, and the United States. In 2023, Australia approved QCAV-4, a GM Cavendish banana variety resistant to Fusarium TR4, marking a new era for sustainable banana production.
As scientists race to find long-term solutions, farmers like Mukankaka remain hopeful that biotechnology will restore Rwanda’s banana sector—once the backbone of rural livelihoods.