This document summarizes a study on integrating social and gender considerations into strategies for managing banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) in affected communities. It finds that: 1) Plantain production is the main agricultural activity and important for income and food security in the pilot sites, with roles for both men and women that are often complementary. 2) Activities in the plantain production chain are typically divided along gender lines, with some tasks predominantly done by men and others by women. 3) There is high joint decision-making within households on plantain production, but women who earn income from sales have more influence over decisions on how that money is used.

1. • Plantain production is the main agricultural activity in the pilot communities and does not only contribute to income security but also sustains the very livelihoods
of the people.
• Roles perform by men and women in plantain production are complementary to each other and so are their contributions in BBTD management.
• Projects that require investment of community assets and resources need to recognize and appreciate the differential rights over assets/resources, decision
making and benefits within households. It may be necessary for projects to make a deliberate effort to change the distribution of benefits within the household.
• Integration of gender issues in the planning, design and implementation of projects is essential to improve outcomes.
Introduction Results
Conclusions
References
Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD), the most devastating viral disease of plantain/banana has affected the livelihoods of many
farm households in Africa and Asia. About 6–12 million smallholder households have been affected 1 and until date, no varietal
source has been identified resistant to the disease.
Plantain/banana production considered as major staple and income-generating food crops for rural households is facing major
challenges caused by the Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV, genus Babuvirus, family Nanoviridae) including other pests and
diseases resulting to low yields. This has led to far-reaching consequences on rural livelihoods and implications on survival
strategies for plantain-growing communities.
In this light, the project Roots and Tubers titled, ‘Building Capacity and Piloting Field Recovery Approaches through a Learning
Alliance’ which is disseminating control strategies in 8 pilot countries in Central and West Africa: DR Congo, Burundi, Congo-
Brazzaville, Malawi, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon and Gabon in order to address this problem. The strategies represent new ways
of managing banana production involving technological and socio- economic reforms within the affected communities for
increase impact and adoption.
To promote adoption, inclusiveness and sustainable banana
recovery through integration and monitoring of the social
contexts including gender actions in the piloting of BBTD
recovery and containment strategies.
 Understand the social relations including those related to
gender is critical since social reforms and the resulting
technological adoption largely depend on resources whose
access is fundamentally influenced by these relations.
 Understand how communities, households, men and
women, boys and girls interact and behave and impact
household decisions on farming.
Plantain production is the main agricultural activity in the pilot sites and men, women and children are involved in the
production chain. It contributes significantly to food security and improved livelihoods and acts as a major source of rural
income.
In Cameroon, women ranked plantain as first choice crop while men rank it second to cocoa. In Nigeria, men ranked
plantain as first for income generation and women are more involved in post-harvest activities.
Activities in the plantain/banana production chain are carried out mainly by men and women. While some activities are
mostly done by men, others are mostly done by women.
There exist complementarity between men and women in the production chain promoting labour efficiency and high
bargaining power as the case of Nigeria.
Labour intensive activities were associated with men as farmers indicated that women doing same task will take a longer
time.
1.Kumar PL, Hanna R, Alabi COJ, Soko MM, Oben TT, Vangu GHP, Naiduc RA (2011). Banana bunchy top virus in sub-Saharan
Africa: investigations on virus distribution and diversity. Virus Res. 159(2):171-182.
2Quisumbing AR, Rubin D, Manfre C, Waithanji E, Mara van den B, Olney D, Johnson N , Meinzen-Dick R (2015). Gender,
assets, and market-oriented agriculture: learning from high-value crop and livestock projects in Africa and Asia. Journal of the
Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society, Vol. 32 No. 1, spring 2015.
Acknowledgements:
• RTB Project: “Integrating gender in RTB thematic research to enhance development outcomes” and RTB project : ‘BBTD containment and Recovery: Building Capacity and Piloting Field Recovery Approaches
through a Learning Alliance’,Univerisity of Ibadan, University of Dschang and Yaounde 1, pilot communities and opinion leaders.
Objectives
Integrating Social, Gender and Generational Transformation in Banana Recovery in Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) Affected Areas
Lilian Nkengla1, Susan Ajambo2, Holger Kirscht1, Rachid Hanna 1, Amare Tegbaru1
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) 1, Bioversity International2
L.nkengla@cgiar.org
Methods
 Qualitative and quantitative methods used including several data collection tool.
1. Household Survey:
Basic household information, assets and
resources - access and ownership, decision
making and social networks
2. Key informant interview
Provide background socio- cultural and
economic information about the community
3. Daily activity schedule:
Daily activities carried out by women and
men seasonally and their relative workloads.
4. Seasonal Activity Calendar:
Seasonality of plantain production activities
and reveal trends that affect livelihoods
Eradicating
infected matts
Establishment of banana
free fallow (3 months)
BBTV-Free planting
materials (Certified
clean of BBTV)
Establishment of new
banana fields (buffer
zone-30 meters)
Monitoring of productivity
of banana and total
cropping system
Monitoring of aphid
and virus status in
banana free fallows
Participatory methods at community and household level
(farmer field schools, PRA, PAR).
BBTD Recovery and Containment Strategies
Gender Division of Labour (GDoL) for selected banana production activities in the Nigerian pilot sites
Sampled Communities Idologun Odon Olokuta
Gender Male % Female % Male % Female % Male % Female%
Bush/land clearing by hand 100 0 80 20 70 30
stubble burning/stumping 100 0 90 10 80 20
Clearing dirt 30 70 20 80 20 80
Tillage/land preparation 100 0 90 10 80 20
Planting/transplanting 100 0 90 10 60 40
Management activities(Weeding by hand) 80 20 80 20 60 40
Management activities (prunning) 100 - 90 10 90 10
Harvesting (cutting of fruits) 80 20 90 10 70 30
Harvesting (packing of harvested fruits) 10 90 10 90 20 80
Transportation to the house for food 50 50 40 60 50 50
Transportation to the market for sale 20 80 20 80 20 80
Marketing on the farm field (fresh or processed) 70 30 60 40 60 40
Marketing in open market or outlets (fresh or processed) 0 100 0 100 0 100
Joint decision-making within plantain/banana growing
households is high.
Women who are mostly involved in sales are more likely
to take decisions on income from sales.
Participation in projects by households is determined by
who has access to and ownership of resources and benefit
sharing within household members 2 .
Men and women have different interests, use and control
rights to different types of assets and resources within
the household.
Gender-responsive guidelines for BBTD management are being developed based on informed results from the BBTD social and gender study.
The guidelines will be integrated into the piloting implementation activities which will lead to the documentation of best practices at the end
of the project.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Number
Decision-making in plantain production in Cameroon pilot site N:70
Male
Female
Both