Stakeholders

From 11-13 March 2024, TC4REaL team members Generose Nziguheba, Mary Mwangi, and Grace Wamue participated in a meeting in Kampala organized by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to establish an East African banana breeding network, focusing on cooking banana. The network, which aims to accelerate the delivery of improved banana varieties in the region, is of importance for countries like Kenya, where the banana breeding is not advanced. The focus on NARITA cooking banana in CLISMABAN and now TC4REaL projects plays an important role in strengthening the banana value chain in Kenya to enhance food security.

The NARITA demonstration sites, established during the preceding CLISMABAN project are valuable to TC4REaL, remaining a living example of the performance of the cooking banana varieties. On 25 May 2025, the team travelled to a demonstration field in Kirinyaga County. They discussed with farmers the performance of various varieties and the farmers preferences. They were thrilled by the enthusiasm and dedication of farmers in managing the field and the desire to expand it. 

On 24 May 2024, the project implementing team of researchers travelled to Murang’a County to meet with representatives of the Murang’a-based SABASABA Cooperative, which aggregates bananas from farmers for joint marketing. By supporting the project during its development, the cooperative had expressed interest in acquiring Disease-Free TC-produced plantlets for the farmers. It was established that their gender-integrated farmers are still eager to access such plantlets.

The cooperative plans to embark on banana value addition, enlarging farmers' market opportunities. To this end, the team visited the nearly completed factory that transforms bananas into value-added products.