Kenya's bid for a larger share of the southern Africa fresh produce market took a blow after the Angolan government banned banana imports from Kenya in a move aimed at curbing the spread of banana wilt disease in the region.

Banana wilt-- a bacterial disease which first got its way into the region through Uganda in 2001-- has since spread to nations in central and eastern Africa which produce and consume bananas in large quantities due to lack of a combined regional effort to control it.

The disease causes the fruit to ripen prematurely, forces leaves to wilt and the affected plants usually die leading to significant yield loss to farmers

The move comes barely months after South African banned Kenya's avocado and mango exports over concerns of fruit flies infestation in the region, in a move that has put a damper on the country's target of emerging as the biggest exporter of fresh produce to the Southern Africa market.

The order issued by Angola's agriculture ministry last week also affects imports from DRC Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda.

The affected countries constitute the largest banana-producing and consuming states in Sub-Saharan Africa.