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Project title:
7: Highland Banana in Ugandan Farming Systems – Opportunities for
Ecological Intensification
Life
Wageningen
Makerere
1st Institution:
2nd Institution:
Assoc.
Institution
Key words (4-6): banana, organic matter, farming system analysis, agricultural intensification
Project description (max. 500 words):
A dominant paradigm concerning enhancement of agricultural productivity in Africa revolves
around ‘market-led intensification’. Whilst linkage to markets (particularly for cash crops such
as cotton, tobacco etc) can provide the opportunities for purchasing fertilizers to drive up
productivity, not all market-led intensification leads to sustainable production systems. A good
example is the influence of urbanization on developing the market for cooking bananas (matoke) in
Uganda. Rapid economic growth, with a concomitant increase in the population of Kampala has
led to rapid expansion of the market for matoke in the city. This leads to a one-way nutrient
transport in the cooking bananas to the urban centre, as the bananas are produced in traditional
systems with virtually no addition of fertilizers. Thus banana yields are declining and alternative
methods of soil fertility management must be sought. A key to sustaining production of highland
banana is maintenance of surface mulch. The mulch plays an essential role in maintaining soil
cover and soil organic matter –which together ensure a good water supply for the plants and
efficient recycling of nutrients.
Traditionally, mulch largely comes from banana leaves but was augmented with grasses and other
crop residues. As productivity declines there is a shortage of organic matter for mulching. Soil
nutrient constraints differ between regions of production of highland banana – requiring different
approaches to design of more sustainable production systems.
This will provide an excellent training opportunity in a range of approaches from detailed
experimentation and measurements of water use at plot level in banana plantations, to farm scale
analysis using simulation modelling.
Key research questions (2-4):
1. To investigate the amounts of organic residues required provide the essential functions of
mulch
2. To understand opportunities for sustainable intensification of highland banana systems
through intercropping with coffee, common beans or other crops
3. To explore trade-offs and opportunities for recycling of organic matter at different scales,
from the plot to farm to regional scale
Required competences:
 Plant nutrition and soil organic matter turnover
 Farming system analysis and modelling