Ecologically sustainable technologies for management of highland banana pests in East and Central Africa

East African highland cooking banana (EAHB; AAA-EA) is one of the most important staple and cash crops in the Great Lakes region of Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). The region has countries with the highest per capita consumption of bananas in the world. Most bananas are planted in low-input, small-scale systems for local markets and household consumption. Farmers use numerous cultivars in different cropping associations under diverse ecological conditions and under different levels of management. They face a range of constraints including pests, diseases, declining soil fertility and increasing costs of inputs. The banana weevil and root-parasitic nematodes are the major pests of bananas in ECA. Available technologies for the control of these pests include cultural control, clean planting material, biological control and chemical control which are either costly, labour intensive or ecologically unsustainable. Recent research efforts have provided innovations for the management of the pests, including conventional breeding, somaclonal selection, development of resistant banana cultivars through genetic engineering, microbial agents, pheromone trapping enhanced by integrating with microbial agents and use of botanicals. This article provides a review of the current banana pest management innovations which are ecologically sustainable and discusses the role of integrating the different pest management options into control packages for increased impact on pest populations and yield. The future research directions for improving the banana value chain are suggested, including integrating conventional and biotechnological approaches.