• Contact Us
    • Send Feedback
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Books and Book Chapters
    • Books and Book Chapters
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Books and Book Chapters
    • Books and Book Chapters
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    Whole Repository
    CollectionsIssue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject
    This Sub-collection
    Issue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject

    My Account

    Login

    Welcome to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Research Repository

    What would you like to view today?

    Bananas in Africa: diversity, uses and prospects for improvement

    Thumbnail
    Date
    1991
    Author
    Swennen, R.
    Vuylsteke, D.
    Type
    Book Chapter
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract/Description
    Bananas, Musa species, are perennial giant herbs belonging to the family Musaceae (Zingiberales: Scitaminae) (Simmonds, 1966; Tomlinson, 1969). Most bananas are cultivated for their fleshy fruits, but some clones are planted for their edible conns or for fiber. Bananas are among the most important food crops of the tropical and subtropical world. Some 68 million tons of bananas are produced annually, of which only 7 million tons enter the world market (FAO, 1987). This demonstrates that the crop is far more important as a food crop for local consumption than it is as an export commodity. The banana's center of origin is located in South-East Asia within an area bordered on the west by India and on the east by Samoa, Fiji and other South Pacific islands (Simmonds, 1966, 1976). High variability occurs, especially in India (Howes, 1928; Venkataramani, 1946; Bhaktavatsalu and Sathiamoorthy, 1979), Sri Lanka (Howes, 1928; Chandraratna and Nanayakkara, 1951), Thailand (Silayoi and Chomchalow, 1987; Silayoi, 1989), Viet Nam (Vakili, pers. comm.), fndonesia (Meijer, 1961), the Philippines (Allen, 1965; Valmayor, 1976; Valmayoret aI., 1981; Pascua and Espino, 1987; Pascua, 1989) and Papua New Guinea (Simmonds, 1956, 1966; Argent, 1976; IBPGR, 1984). It is believed that bananas were introduced into Africa by immigrants of Indo-Malayan origin and by Arab traders. There is much speculation on the POIts of entry, but the areas of Zanzibar and Pemba (Tanzania) and Madagascar are the most likely candidates. From there, bananas were taken westward across the continent by African migrations (Simmonds, 1976). During the 16th and 17th centuries, slave traders took the banana to the New World. It is there, in Central and South America, that the export trade of dessert bananas flourishes today.
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/5902
    IITA Subjects
    Banana; Food Security
    Agrovoc Terms
    Bananas; Food Crops
    Regions
    Africa; West Africa
    Countries
    Nigeria
    Collections
    • Books and Book Chapters951
    copyright © 2019  IITASpace. All rights reserved.
    IITA | Open Access Repository