Comparing effectiveness, cost- and time-efficiency of control options for Xanthomonas wilt of banana under Rwandan agro-ecological conditions

Abstract

Xanthomonas wilt of banana (XW) is a major disease affecting banana throughout East and Central Africa (ECA). Initial control was through complete diseased mat uprooting (CDMU), which had limited adoption due to high labour demands and cost. Further research demonstrated single diseased stem removal (SDSR) was an effective, less labour intensive and less costly alternative to CDMU. A comparative assessment of the two control practices was needed to foster uptake by policy makers, especially in countries like Rwanda where SDSR had not been tested or scaled up. To test SDSR in Rwanda, a study was conducted in farmers’ fields comparing the effectiveness, labour cost and time demands of CDMU and SDSR. SDSR was equally effective as CDMU for XW control, with initial XW incidences of 3.0 to 9.4% being reduced to <0.5% within 3 months of using either method. The major benefit of SDSR lies in its significantly lower resource requirements. The total time needed for applying SDSR on a single plant was 88% less, averaging 4.3 min (standard deviation, sd = 0.3) compared to 36.5 min (sd = 4.5) for CDMU on a complete mat. Accordingly, the cost of labour was significantly lower for SDSR. The main cost of CDMU (78% of total cost) arose from the need to replant with healthy banana plantlets. The total cost of SDSR (26 Rwandan Francs [Frw], sd = 2) was 96% lower than that for CDMU (619 Frw, sd = 27). Hence, the incentive to use SDSR for managing XW is very high. These findings will boost SDSR adoption by both policy makers and farmers in ECA.

Spread of Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum within banana mats: implications for Xanthomonas wilt management

“…The study was also limited in terms of the coverage of banana cultivars or genome groups, given potential differences could have arisen between cultivars or genome groups. Nevertheless, the success of SDSR across the different regions of East and Central Africa (Blomme et al 2014(Blomme et al , 2017a(Blomme et al , 2019(Blomme et al , 2021Kubiriba et al 2012;Ocimati et al 2013aOcimati et al , 2015Ntamwira et al 2019), suggests that the impact of these additional variables could be minimal.…”

Scaling Banana Bacterial Wilt Management Through Single Diseased Stem Removal in the Great Lakes Region

“…Single diseased stem removal is based on the idea that the continued removal of only the diseased plants in a mat will reduce the amount of Xvm inoculum, reduce the risk of Xvm spread to other plants in a mat, and ultimately bring down disease incidence to an acceptable level. The method also demands less time and labor than removing a complete mat, so it is more acceptable to farmers (Blomme et al 2021). The total time for SDSR application on a single plant has been observed to be 88% less, averaging 4.3 minutes compared with 36.5 minutes for CMU (Blomme et al 2021).…”

“…The method also demands less time and labor than removing a complete mat, so it is more acceptable to farmers (Blomme et al 2021). The total time for SDSR application on a single plant has been observed to be 88% less, averaging 4.3 minutes compared with 36.5 minutes for CMU (Blomme et al 2021). Consequently, the cost of SDSR was 96% lower than that for CMU (Blomme et al 2021).…”

A Public Bad Game Method to Study Dynamics in Socio-Ecological Systems (Part II): Results of Testing Musa-Game in Rwanda and Adding Emergence and Spatiality to the Analysis

“…This method is low-cost, simple, and less labor intensive. SDSR is effective for bringing disease incidence to a minimum level and is especially suitable for smallholder farmers [21,22].…”