Coffee-Banana Intercropping: Implementation guidance for policymakers and investors

Coffee-Banana Intercropping (VBI) addresses all 3 pillars of CSA in a multifaceted way. CBI in both Arabica nad Robusta generates 50% more revenue then either coffee or banana monocrop. Farmers' risk is reduced by practising CBI, making them more resilient to climate change impacts. Transformational changes are needed in the attitude towards CBI, to support scaling up of the practice

Distribution, incidence and farmers knowledge of banana Xanthomonas wilt in Burundi

Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is a devastating bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. The disease was simultaneously reported in Cankuzo and Bubanza provinces, Burundi, in November 2010. However, the extent to which the disease has spread to other banana growing regions in the country is unknown. Therefore, to ascertain the distribution and incidence of the disease and farmers’ knowledge on measures to control the disease, a survey was conducted in all 16 banana growing provinces of Burundi in August 2011. A total of 208 farms were sampled, selecting six farms per surveyed commune, three affected and three non-affected. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. The disease was present in 10 out of 16 provinces constituting all agricultural lands in Burundi. The highest incidence was recorded in Ruyigi province (34%), where the Kayinja system is dominant and the lowest in Muyinga (3%), where the East African Highland bananas (EAHB) dominate. Awareness of BXW symptoms, modes of spread and control measures was generally low, ranging from 8 to 30% of households surveyed. The limited knowledge of the disease among farmers was thought to be largely responsible for driving the epidemic in Burundi

Climate-smart perennial systems

Although coffee is a promising cash crop, smallholder farmers that grow coffee are still vulnerable. Soil fertility is declining, pest and disease pressure is increasing, populations are rising, and land is continuously fragmented. Above all, climate change is starting to take its toll and puts further pressure on the coffee-based farming systems directly, because temperature and rainfall have an impact on the physiology of Arabica coffee, and indirectly because the incidence and severity of certain pests and diseases such as the coffee berry borer and coffee leaf rust will increase

Coffee/Banana intercropping as an opportunity for smallholder coffee farmers in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi

Coffee is a primary cash crop and banana a primary food crop in the East African highlands region, including Rwanda, Burundi, north-west Tanzania, west and central Kenya and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. These two crops often occur on the same smallholder farms, either planted on separate plots or intercropped. In certain countries, intercropping coffee and banana is voluntarily practised, while in others governments recommend growing these crops on separate plots. Even if intercropping coffee and banana leads to a decrease in coffee yields under certain conditions, it gives certain advantages to smallholder farmers. Intercropping offers higher returns per unit of land compared with coffee alone. Farmers increasingly resort to intercropping as a result of declining farm sizes, and in an effort to reduce risks related to income and food security. Researchers have identified the potential opportunity for intercropping coffee and banana for smallholder farmers, but many public and private development partners have not yet fully embraced this technology. The benefits and constraints of intercropping coffee and banana are discussed based on results from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. The aim is to understand the drivers of this system in Uganda, where intercropping is a common practice, so that a framework can be suggested to develop research and recommendations for intercropping coffee and bananas in Burundi and Rwanda, where intercropping is under experimentation and has high potential