Farms: plantain farming....
Hey every one, hope you all are fine. Today i will be sharing a wonderful topic with you.
The topic is calld plantain farming.
This is my plantain at the back of my house.
Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus Musa whose fruits are generally used in cooking.
Land With Good Soil
Loamy soils are the best producing soils for plantain farming because they contain a good organic to inorganic ratio. Organic materials, such as decaying plants and insects, provide soil with air, nutrients and water-retaining matter.
This combination of ingredients, when combined with mineral particles, allows soil to stay loose and fertile.
In tropical rain forests part of Nigeria, organically rich soils are shallow. Plantains will thrive for one to three years but then die back because the layer of organic matter is easily depleted.
To avoid depletion, it is necessary to provide soils with compost and mulch.
- Prepare The Soil
Clear the land and cut some of the trees if any, Plantain plants also grow best in bunches or groups because they protect each other from the harsh rays of the sun.
It is important to create an environment where the plantain plants are sheltered either because they are bunched up together or there are other trees to protect them.
It is important to maintain the humidity of the plantain plantation by allowing some of the trees to remain for the purpose of protecting the plant from excessive sun and to enhance the humidity. This is very essential in plantain farming environment.
- Get The Plantain Suckers
Considering that a plantain plant is not a tree but a type of herb, they cannot actually be grown from seeds like most trees. Plantain plants are grown through suckers.
Suckers are those that grow from a dying, mature plantain plant that can be transplanted and re-grown. They may be considered as baby plants that are used to start new plantain plants. Choose suckers from plants that are vigorous.
They should have small, spear shaped leaves and are about four feet high.
Control The Weeds
The weeds control is very important if you want your plantain to do well, the cost of weed management could account for up to 45% of the total cost of plantain plantation management in Nigeria.
As the plantain grows, it is important to protect it from strong winds. It is also important to keep it well watered. One can also sprinkle fertilizers every now and then but mostly throwing the plantain dead leaves back into the plant is enough to sustain the rich quality of the soil.
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Choosing The Time to Plant
Plantains can be planted throughout the rainy season. How ever, they should grow vigorously and without stress during the first 3 to 4 months after planting, and therefore they should not be planted during the last months of the rainy season.
Planting with the first rains seems agronomically sound but not financially advantageous. Most farmers will plant at the onset of the rains, causing the market to be flooded with bunches 9 to 12 months after planting, when prices will be very low.
Planting in the middle of the rainy season is a better proposition as plantains will then be produced off-season and get high prices.
Mulching
Organic matter is essential for plantain cultivation if the field is to be very productive for a long time. A high level of organic matter in the soil is beneficial because it stimulates root development, improves soil drainage, decreases soil temperature fluctuations, and increases soil porosity and biological life.
Plantain farming is very important in the society.
Pictured of fried plantain.
1 bounch of plantain. #1200