Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
Two separate diseases are destroying banana and
plantain crops in Africa. They could threaten food
security for millions of Africans who depend on
bananas as an important part of their diet.
Banana bacterial wilt was first reported in Ethiopia
in the late nineteen sixties. In two thousand one it
was found in Uganda. Since then it has spread to
neighboring countries including Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The leaves of infected plants weaken and become
yellow. They also leak a yellow liquid. The bananas
ripen too quickly and begin to rot.
Farmers can unknowingly spread the infection with
their cutting tools. Experts say by the time a
farmer discovers that something is wrong, it is
already too late. The crop must be destroyed.
Uganda is Africa's leading producer and consumer of
bananas.
The organization Biodiversity International reports
losses of up to eighty percent in heavily affected
areas of the country.
Farmers worry that a second disease could also
spread to Uganda. Bunchy top disease causes all of
the leaves to grow from the top of the banana plant.
Infected plants produce small, abnormal fruit.
Finally, they stop producing completely.
The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
says the disease is widely found in Gabon, Angola,
Malawi, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The institute's Rachid Hanna says farmers must
destroy infected plants, normally by burning them.
Bunchy top disease can spread from plant to plant
and is also spread by aphids. These small insects
must be destroyed.
Rachid Hanna advises farmers to use biological
controls such as natural enemies of the aphids.
He says bunchy top disease and banana bacterial wilt
can both affect entire plantations. Experts say the
two diseases together have caused losses of up to
ninety percent in some areas.
Not only are farm incomes affected, but so are local
food supplies. Experts say more than thirty million
people could be at risk of shortages unless a
solution is found.
Scientists from around the world met in Tanzania in
August to discuss the situation. Rachid Hanna says
strong measures must be taken now to prevent a
crisis in the future. He said controlling the
diseases would go a long way to improve people's
food security and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa.
And that's the VOA Special English Development
Report.
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
