Banana Plantain Production: Efforts To Curb Bunchy Top’s Spread Amplify

A nnually, Cameroon produces over 5.5 million tonnes of plantain and banana which sums to over 16 per cent of agri­ cultural income to small-scale far­ mers, and 4.5 per cent of the na­ tional agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unfortunately, the government’s national projected increase in yield of over 10 million tonnes from all ten agricultural valleys by 2030 has since 2008 been threatened by the outbreak of the Banana Bunchy Top Di­ sease (BBTD) in the South Region. Reasons why, agricultural stake­ holders met at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develop­ ment in Yaounde, on July 23, 2026 to chart strategies to curb BBTD’s spread. Since its early outbreak in the South Region’s Municipality of Ambam from neighbouring Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and even­ tual 30 km spread from the Ntem Valley Division to Mekomo, Mi­ nyin-Ambam, and Mekoe, the go­ vernment in collaboration with actors like the International Ins­ titute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Food and Agriculture Or­ ganization of the United Nations (FAO) , through programmes like the former Plantain Revitalization Programme (PRFP), “has invested over FCFA 148 million to fund the sensibilization of farmers, di­ gitalization of production valleys, quarantine affected areas, streng­ thening the identification, control, and prevention of the spread of this disease in affected countries”, the Secretary General at MINA­ DER, Professor Grace Annih Mbong said. These st...