wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

This afternoon, we went to the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) and took a trek through the banana fields there. Now, as you probably know, New Yorkers love bananas. I think it should be the official food of the city. They're cheap, on every corner, and they work for people on the go. One of our hosts today, Dennis Kyetere, said he saw what they sold in the US and what they called a 'bunch of bananas' -- you know, the 5 or so bananas that are usually together on a bunch. No, according to Dr. Kyetere that's not a bunch, this is a bunch of bananas:

The issue of food security is an interesting one in Uganda. They consider the term 'food security' more apt for their circumstances rather than 'food shortages.' They have food, but the issues they face are transporting it, refrigerating it, and in the case of the banana, depending too much on one food. Some communities eat only bananas and that leads to severe malnourishment. At NARO they are in the process of experimenting with GM foods. What the researchers would like to create is an enriched banana one that has extra iron and vitamin E and could combat the diseases that result from over-dependence on the banana. There is no opposition, being for research and not for commercial sale -- which was clear even before the following sign reiterated the point.

Uganda is the biggest grower of bananas in Africa, and second in the world only to India. Having said that, they export less than 1% of their crop. Bananas are grown here and eaten here. Incidentally, our hosts were also horrified at the taste of bananas that Americans eat. I'm going to try a few Ugandan bananas and report the results.

With the current global food shortages, Uganda may be in a position to supply food where there are shortages. Uganda has many small farmers, so called botanical garden farmers. They grow a little of everything, but these farmers are now considering adapting their farming habits to cultivate only rice or another foodstuffs that could provide large profits.

We have been told a number of times over the past 24 hours that all the food in Uganda is organic. Some say it's only because there is no access to pesticides here.