About ProMusa

A. Nkawa Attey

ProMusa is a community of scientists and stakeholders working on bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) to meet the needs of resource-poor smallholder banana farmers in developing countries.

Banana farmers are faced with ever declining yields due to pests and diseases and deteriorating environmental conditions, but rarely have the means to address these challenges. They also have a limited capacity to add value to their crop by increasing quality, efficiency and product diversification. Meanwhile, public sector investment in banana research is not commensurate with the needs of the millions of people relying on this crop for their livelihoods, whereas private sector research tends to focus on minimizing commercial growers’ production costs.

The aim of ProMusa is to address these global challenges collaboratively by bringing the expertise of scientists from diverse disciplines together and mobilizing the best science available. ProMusa strives to be a platform for developing the global research and development agenda on banana and plantain, exchanging information, synthesizing research results into knowledge products and delivering the outputs to the various user groups. It seeks to increase the capacity of the R&D community in generating global public goods and to establish an enabling environment that promotes the equitable (mutually beneficial) exchange and effective use of these goods.

These goods can take the form of better knowledge of pests and diseases, a more strategic use of diversity in production systems to reduce the impact on farmers and the environment, or higher-yielding improved varieties that can grow in a range of conditions and meet local requirements. Sustainable management practices are deemed critical to improving the livelihoods of smallholders, especially when combined with adapted post-harvest technologies.

ProMusa strives to facilitate and synergize research efforts through the identification of opportunities for collaboration and funding. It does not, however, directly implement or endorse research activities, or fund them.

The main tools ProMusa uses to achieve its goal are the organisation of a biennial international research symposium (reported in proceedings), an electronic newsletter InfoMus@, a platform for community engagement and other communication tools like email listservers. A Musa knowledge resource centre is also in development.