Tom's bananas

On a recent visit to Kilimanjaro, I was very pleased to see that bananas are being planted at the Kifufu estate in Northern Tanzania, apparently on my recommendation. Here's a shot of a trailer carrying four planters and about 400 tissue culture sweet banana plants on the way to their planting site where they will, I am assured, be known as Tom's bananas.

The Banana plant is one of nature's wonders. The largest of all herbaceous flowering plants, it was domesticated in SE Asia (probably New Guinea) in the form of seedless cultivars. It reached Africa and Southern Europe during the Islamic expansion, and then formed one of the few beneficial "Old World" elements of the Columbian exchange. High in dietary fibre and potassium, it is one of the healthiest carbohydrate food sources, and is a staple crop in many parts of the developing world. Ugandans are reputed to be the world's largest per capita consumers of bananas - figures vary, but the average Ugandan is estimated to consume about 200 kgs of matooke (cooking bananas) every year.