Browse through the results and join the online discussion.
The results of a survey of banana experts, conducted at the beginning of the year as part of the RTB priority setting exercise, have recently been released and are now available online. The survey attracted responses from over 500 different research scientists located in over 50 countries, and sought to establish the most important constraints that limit banana yields and farmers’ incomes while also determining research priorities.
The results of the survey could not come at a better time. Over 40 banana experts from advanced research institutes and leading banana-producing countries will gather in Kampala, Uganda, between the 8-11 of April to complete the information on production constraints and research options. During the workshop, co-hosted by NARO, Bioversity International and IITA, multidisciplinary groups will be formed by major cultivar groups to finalize the list of major constraints to banana production and marketing and to estimate related yield gaps and/or foregone income.
The workshop participants will then select 10-15 research options that best address the leading constraints and estimate model parameters (such as research costs, expected increases in yield and income, expected decrease in production cost, adoption potential, and impacts on health, gender equity and the environment) and their stochastic distribution to be used in a sensitivity analysis.
At appropriate points during the four-day workshop, outcomes will be posted in the e-forum on the ProMusawebsite to allow stakeholders who are not in the workshop to participate and provide comments that will be fed back to the participants in Kampala: http://www.promusa.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=94
Daily summaries will also be available on the ProMusa Twitter (@Promusa_banana) and Facebook pages (ProMusa Banana Community).
