Br. Dr. Murongo Marius Flarian Acquires PhD in Dryland Resource Management

He attained his Ph.D. in Dryland Resource Management from the University of Nairobi under Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology Department. He is also a Senior lecturer from the faculty of Agriculture Uganda Martyrs University.

Title of thesis: Farmer perception and soil factors influencing tissue culture banana (Musa x paradisiaca) adoption and production in smallholder farms in Uganda.

Summary
The rate of adoption of tissue-culture banana (TCB) at the smallholder farmer level in Uganda has been low since the technology was introduced over 20 years ago.

Farmer perceptions that limit adoption, soil biotic and abiotic factors influencing production, and the contribution of local soil amendments that enable TCB adoption, growth and production needed further study.

This was achieved through survey, lab examinations, and randomized controlled field experiments. Smallholder farmers perceived TCB as an expensive-input-intensive technology whose products rate low on organoleptic qualities compared to non-tissue culture banana (NTCB).

The banana weevil and the root knot nematode varied considerably in space and time, and largely devastated TCB than NTCB.

However, application of bio slurry from cow dung and local banana brew, significantly increased soil nutrient capacity at variable depths, reduced nematode pest population, and caused normal growth and yield of TCB cultivars up to the 12 month after planting (MAP).

The adoption of NTCB was largely influenced by the banana weevil than it was by nematodes in the same farmers’ fields. Variations in soil pH, and N significantly influenced TCB distribution.

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