IITA–CGIAR and six national agricultural research centers have signed the Mchare and Matooke Regional Target Product Profiles to enhance banana breeding and breeding impact in East Africa to better serve smallholder farmers and their families. This agreement, signed during the recent East Africa Banana Network Meeting in Kampala Uganda, aims to develop and test new banana hybrids jointly in the highlands of Eastern Africa, following standardized breeding and testing procedures.
The agreement was signed by country banana research leads from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania in the presence of IITA Head of Breeding Hapson Mushoriwa and representatives of Genetic Innovation’s Accelerated Breeding Initiative. These countries represent about 40% of banana production in Africa, and this initiative marks the establishment and launch of the East African Banana Breeding Network, which aims to accelerate the delivery of improved banana varieties in the region.