Ugandan researchers have unveiled a new cooking banana (matooke) variety called NARITA 17, also known as NAROBAN6.
The high-yielding and disease-resistant variety was unveiled on Thursday (April 3) at the National Agriculture Laboratories (NARL) offices in Kawanda.
It presents a major breakthrough for both farmers and consumers in a country where matooke is a staple in many households.
The unveiling of the new variety to the media followed clearance by the National Variety Release Committee of the agriculture ministry that sat last month (March 21).
NARITA 17 was developed by researchers on Uganda’s banana research programme in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Pests and diseases
Dr Alex Barekye, the lead of the NARO-NARL banana programme, said the new variety weighs 26 kilogrammes compared to the 17.2 kilogrammes of NAROBAN5, and represents a 33 percent higher production, according to results from the national field trials.
He said that while NAROBAN5 is tolerant to nematodes — pests that attack the roots and destroy the feeding system, making the plant weaker — NAROBAN6 on the other hand is resistant to nematodes.
Barekye explained that the new variety is tolerant to weevils and resistant to Fusarium wilt and Black Sigatoka that affect the leaves of bananas, leading to low yields of the banana bunch.
Typically, banana weevils attack the comb (bottom part) of the plant, rendering the plant weak and easily destroyed by heavy wind.
“These effects reduce the plantation life of bananas and all these were considered in the breeding of NAROBAN6 that can stand up to more than 10 years of banana plantation span,” said Barekye.
In addition to the management of Fusarium wilt, Dr Michael Batte, a banana breeder at IITA, said they supported the research team with varieties that are resistant to the wilt.
Dr Robooni Tumuhimbise, the director of research at NARL, attended the unveiling. He called for strict adherence to best farming practices in order for farmers to get the best out of the new banana variety.
He advised farmers interested in getting new banana plantlets or seed to contact research stations nearest to them for guidance on where to find quality seed.
Tumuhimbise said they plan to work with different seed multipliers, especially those into bananas, and to contact NARO Holdings, the commercial arm of NARO, to further make seed for the new banana variety available.
Productivity
The new release increases options for the more than 20 million people in Uganda who depend on bananas for food and income security, according to the research team from the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO).
Bananas are mainly grown by smallholder farmers, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.
However, average productivity has remained low despite significant efforts put into generating and promoting technologies against numerous production constraints.
Low productivity has been attributed to diseases and pests such as banana weevil and nematodes as well as diseases such as Black Sigatoka and bacterial wilt.
Tumuhimbise said the newy unveiled variety has a relatively shorter cycling period compared to other released banana hybrids.
That means it takes about 10 months from planting to flowering and about four months from flowering to harvest.
Local research in bananas continues to get more products such as green starch, fibre and juice.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Dr Robooni Tumuhimbise Director of Research NARO – National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL) explains about Naroban 6 a new matooke variety at NARO headquarters in Kampala on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Francis Emorut)
