dc.description.abstract | The study was conducted to evaluate BBW management in Ntungamo sub county Ntungamo
district. Banana bacterial wilt (BBW) is a vascular disease that results in permanent wilting
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and eventual death of the plant. The general objective was to assess the effectiveness of
banana bacterial wilt management practices used by farmers to manage BBW in Ntungamo
sub county. Socio-demographic data was collected and BBW management assessed through
questionnaires, interviews and observation. Eighty farmers from four parishes in Ntungamo
Sub-county were randomly sampled and eight key informants were purposively sampled and
data was analysed. Results revealed that those farmers who experienced BBW mostly
practiced removing infected plants at first sight (42.9) and disinfecting tools with jik was the
list practiced at 2.4%. However, it was further revealed that farmers combined at least three
of the control strategies in order for them to be effective. According to the study findings,
most of the farmers reported that the strategies were fairly effective (47%). It was
recommended that the capacity of various stakeholders like extension workers, religious
leaders among others should be built more to enable them easily detect and provide
information to the general public on how to prevent and manage BBW. Also there is need for
the government to implement policies to enable microfinance institutions to provide credit to
farmers. This will enable farmers to buy chemicals like jik for sterilizing the tools and also to
buy tools like pangas and hoes, hence avoiding sharing of tools which will reduce on the
disease spread | en_US |