| This research report highlights the findings from a set of studies undertaken by the International Food Policy Research Institute, along with several national and international research institutions, to assess the economic impact of improved cultivars and management practices on smallholder farmers in the Lake Victoria Region of Uganda and Tanzania— an area where the cooking banana is both economically and culturally important. Genetic transformation is a promising alternative for improving the resistance of banana plants to the pests and diseases that cause serious economic losses, because bananas, unlike rice, wheat, and maize, are difficult to improve through conventional breeding techniques. The team of researchers posed three broad questions: What is... |
