Banana (Musa spp.) Production Characteristics and Performance in Uganda

The highland cooking banana (Musa spp., AAA-EA genome) is the most important crop in the East African Great Lakes region. In Uganda, production has expanded and productivity increased in the country’s southwest and declined in the Central region where the crop has traditional roots. Analyzing crop characteristics and performance was imperative to elucidate the factors that have contributed to this change. Performance analysis helps to inform possible investment policies and strategies in the banana subsector for both regions. The study was carried out in central and southwest regions of the country, which have divergent production constraints and opportunities. Changes in economic conditions appear to have contributed to the shift in banana production from the central to the southwest. Specifically, increase in nonfarm-farm income in the central region reduced farmers’ need for cash income generated from farm production. On the other hand, high food prices increased farmers’ need to rely on own farm production for household needs. There was a shift in resource allocation in favor of crops most suited to satisfying household food needs (e.g., sweet potato (Lpomoea batatas), cassava (Manihot esculenta) and beans (Phaseolus spp.) against crops that appear to be more profitable (e.g., bananas) when valued at farm-gate prices. In the southwest, farmers adopted technologies and crop activities that were relatively more labor demanding but more rewarding in terms of cash benefits. Specifically, bananas were adopted because they satisfied both the cash needs and food requirements of the farmers. However, a significant proportion of land (not suited to banana production) in the southwest (15.4%) is committed to finger millet (Eleusine coracana) production to supplement bananas in terms of food security.