Uganda is the only country in the world that has matooke banana cells in the laboratory. Dr Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, the director of the National Agricultural Research Laboratories, said the institute had been able to develop embryo cells from the banana plant, which cells can be developed into banana suckers through the use of modern biotechnology.
The suckers can be incorporated with the nutritional components of zinc or iron or traits giving them disease resistance, like to banana bacteria wilt, with precision.
“No one else in the world has matooke cells,” he boasted. It is only NARO that has the capacity to transform the banana.”
The matooke, also known as the highland banana, is native to East Africa. Uganda is second to India in production but has the highest consumption average in the world at 120kgs per person according to Dr Jeromo Kuburiba, the head of the banana programme at NARL.
Tushemereirwe said Uganda had made two great strides in banana research. The first one he said was to develop embryo cells from the plant. The second one was to incorporate traits of interest in the banana cells, the most difficult; here they used genetic engineering because of its precision in cutting out unwanted traits.
