For a long time, farmers in Central Kenya depended on coffee for income, that is until prices plummeted and what was known as the “Black Gold” turned into a curse of sorts.
Then a research firm introduced a high yielding, fast maturing banana, the Tissue Culture Banana, helping eliminate poverty in a region where people had resigned to hopelessness.
Farmer Justus Kimani started growing the crop in 2009; three years after the Kenya Agricultural Research institute (KARI) started working with NGO Africa Harvest.
What started as an experiment is now the family’s main income earner. The trading centres have cut the middleman, often seen as exploitative.
Research indicates the average hectare yield for tissue culture bananas is 30 to 40 tons per year, earning more than $10 000 almost twice the yield from normal breeds.
In 2000, world leaders set themselves a goal of reducing extreme hunger and poverty by the end of September.
Nearly 70% of Africa’s rural population rely on agriculture for economic sustainability, which remains the backbone of most of the continent’s economies.
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