Curtailing Unemployment Through Plantain Plantation
Hello Steemians. You are welcome. The issue of unemployment cannot be overemphasized. It is a major economic problem, especially in developing countries like Nigeria and most countries in Sub-Sahara Africa. Youths keep hunting for elusive white collar jobs while other areas that can provide needed employment are being neglected, thereby worsening National unemployment woes. One of such other areas that can provide alternative employment opportunities is agriculture.
Most times, it is not that the youths are not interested in agriculture as a means of livelihood but that they lack adequate information to venture into any particular agribusiness. One of such highly lucrative agribusinesses that worths attention is plantain plantation. In this article, I will be revealing everything that is required to go into this business and make profits.
This business is very profitable because it is not capital intensive to start. Again, a sucker of plantain costs between N200 to 300 apiece. The harvest and planting is done once but Plantain plants bear fruits multiple times in a season. And keep doing so season after season for a very long time. So benefits are enjoyed for a very long time. To cap it all, there is ready market for plain as plantain is a major staple food in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Below is the steps for setting up a plantain farming
Secure a fertile farmland
This is the first and most important step in setting up a plantain plantation. The farm land should be located in an area with weather conditions that can support the growth of plantain. Nutrient content of the soil is also a major factor. Plantain plants thrive most in loamy soil that's rich in organic manure with moderate moisture condition. Where nutrients concentration of the soil is not enough to support healthy growth, the farmland should undergo treatment phase in which organic manure including poultry waste, compost, animal dung amongst others are added to the soil.
Land/farmland preparation
Having secured the farmland, the next thing is to prepare the land for actual planting. This process involves clearing the land of trees and bushes by use of manual labor or tractor machine. Organic manures can also be added during this process if the soil has been tested and found to be lacking in enough nutrients. It is important to add organic manure whenever tractor machine is employed to clear the farmland as it is most likely that nutrients rich top soil has been cleared in the process. Tilling the soil is also part of farmland preparation.
Get the Suckers
Plantain plant cannot grow from seeds but through suckers which are an outgrowth from bud or corm of a dying parent plantain plant.
It is important to be very careful in order not to buy disease infested sucker or a type of suckers that will not give optimum yield. Maidenhead and sword suckers are recommended for plantain plantation business. As much as possible, avoid water suckers as they are known not to give good yield.
Plant the suckers at 8 to 10 meters interval from one another. It is important to keep the suckers moist after planting but not too moisture in order for them not to decay since they don't have fully developed leave to evaporate excess water.
Control of weeds and fertilizer application where necessary
For plantain plant to grow healthy, weeds and other unwanted plants and grasses that are competing with them for nutrients and space should be controlled by way of periodically uprooting them. This can be carried out by employing labor to do it manually. However, if the plantation is too big to employ manual labor, chemicals can then be used.
Because weeds may have depleted the amount of nutrients available in the soil, it is advisable to take a soil sample and test to determine if nutrients content is still at optimum level. Where necessary, KPN fertilizer is added to improve soil nutrient. Pruning of the leaves can also be carried and the leaves gotten from such activities can be made into compost to further improve soil condition.
Harvesting and Marketing
Usually, plantain fruits are harvested 8 to 10 months after planting. Harvesting is done in batches and this is the period of profit galore as once one batch is harvested, another batch will be ready for harvest and this will continue throughout the season.
Marketing isn't a major a problem as plantain is a staple food in this part of the world. From local village market to major city markets, demand for plantain is always far more than what is usually available.
Conclusion
It has been shown that plantain plantation is one of the most lucrative agribusinesses people do not have information about. It is not capital intensive and remain very profitable for many years from initial investment. This is a very worthy alternative employment for many youths if they can decide to roll up sleeves and be useful to themselves and the society at large.
Thanks for reading.
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Reference
http://www.nextnaijaentrepreneur.com/plantain-farming/
https://www.wealthresult.com/agriculture/plantain-farming-in-nigeria
http://www.nairaland.com/2016639/cost-analysis-how-setup-plantain
Thanks @jodipamungkas and @gbenga for the badge
What would the world really do without farming and food supply. Won't be as easy as it looks, but I plan on starting a plantation after Graduation in 2 years time.
Hello @pangoli
That will be very good if you can go into this: it has zero risk and highly profitable
@eurogee
Yes Boss
Hello @eurogee
This is a very well thought out and helpful post.
Nigerian youths are yet to see the Importance of Farming, it has the potential to liberate them from poverty and joblessness
There have been forecasts that the world is heading towards food shortages, the only solution to this is for more people to go into farming.
I myself have acquired a huge piece of land and will start farming by early next year.
Thanks for sharing this, I am also glad you took my advice to heart, well done.
We shall overcome.
@ogochukwu
#blockchain-blogger
Hello @ogochukwu
It is good you are here to voice in support of this article. The earlier our people understand this, the better
Thanks
@eurogee
Hello boss @eurogee, this is a nice idea. I think i like it but someone may be needing to employ who guards the farm right?many opportunists may visit the farm behind the owner i guess.
This is one major challenge especially in Africa, it's not that people aren't willing to farm but rooters are scary! They invades without mercy leaving the farmer frustrated and discouraged.
Hello @adore-eu
You have a point. That's is necessary step not to fall victim of theft
@eurogee
It's beautiful .And thanks to remove cover from these facts
Welcome. Steem on
@eurogee
There you go again with a great idea to produce plantain to feed the people and this will also provide engagement to idle minds. I like this man. Thanks.
@praise-eu
Hello @praise-eu
It gives me joy to learn that you like this work.
@eurogee
Thank you @eurogee for this information, but one needs to know the amount of NPK needed as too much of it can be disastrous. Plantain business is serious business but these days getting a land is very hard.
Not withstanding youths are not just interested in agric which is really sad. I love this and am happy you shared it.
Hello @gloglo
Thanks you my sister for. Thus we'll thought out response. You hit it on the head when you said...
Our youths continue to chase shadow when there's huge opportunities in agribusinesses.
@eurogee
Exactly... please lets continue to spread the word.
@eurogee Nigeria of first republic was sustained by agriculture, we went into recession due to lack of interest and support for agriculture, all attention was focused on technology and oil production. my question now is can we eat technology? can we drink oil? out of my experience in technology field i have not seen software that produces food so all till fall back to agriculture. Thank God for the recession because it took us back to the base.......AGRICULTURE . lol @theheralds
Hello @theheralds
You are very right to have made this statement....
It is left for the youths to understand and do the needful. Thanks
Indeed, African origin is farming. Africans no longer depend on farming business, because corruption has given the politicians and English professional workers the chance to dig on top of the farmers head, meaning that the farmers are being neglected in the country than others, so therefore every one want to be a big shot.
But in economic system, farming is a great expenditure revenue that government must not do without, especially in Nigeria. All we need is government to pump in cash and push good plans into the project..... Nice info @eurogee
Thanks for stopping by w
Thanks for stopping by w
While I grow quite a bit of plantain myself - I cannot recommend that monoculture cultivation of anything be a long term solution to poverty.
The clearning of all trees and bushes, as you say, will only help deplete soil health in the long run - even as you 'secure fertile land', this plan of yours will ensure that in less than a decade you will be looking for more fertile land.
You mention buying and applying industrial fertilizers, and their use will only need to grow with this technique, quickly increasing the input costs and lowering the ROI of the farmers. We plant banana and plantain suckers with processed chicken manure, not NPK fertilizer.
Please add other crops to your plantation rotation! Grow trees in between the plantains!
Hello @ecoinstant
You have made so salient points, which shouldn't be ignored.
However, you are right below but will one plant his plants in the midst of trees since you appear to be against Bush clearing?
Your response to the issue I raised will be highly appreciated. Thank you
@eurogee
@eurogee Thank you for opening a discussion with your reasonable response!
Surely everything will depend first and foremost on the conditions when one begins to observe and make the design; it is my firm belief that there is no one size fits all solution to every situation in agriculture.
We are in total agreement that agriculture is important, necessary, powerful, empowering and more, but we must make sure that in the search of profit we are not sacrificing long-term viability or the health of the soil.
In my mountainous area, clearing tracks of land for monoculture cropping often results in terrible erosion and loss of the fertile layers of soil. In flatter lands wind erosion may be more of a problem.
How can we deal with this? One strategy that we have used is to clear the undergrowth and not the overgrowth. Here is a picture of a new area we are cleaning on our farm:
I hope you can see here that as we clear this new area we try to first clear all the underbrush while leaving the trees and future trees, we prune their branches high to leave open walkable space below them.
Here is a more professional example to illustrate my point, this is a professional monoculture reforestation in Panama, although they use monoculture lots they have several species per hectare, they switch up the species of tree with different tracts.
Notice here that it is clear that there is plenty of room to exploit a nice plaintain plantation under the canopy of the trees!
We are working in Colombia to, like you, find profitable and sustainable ways for rural people to earn a living through agriculture. I don't have all the answers - but I am very confident that polyculture is essential and that in many/most parts of the world agroforestry should be employed.
I am eager for your response - I seem to have written an entire post here on your comment ;p
Hello @ecoinstant
I can certainly ascribe University status to steemit without being wrong! Here, we continue to learn and learn andearn for real good.
In all my years of knowledge of agriculture, I have known that tree felling is great disadvantageous to soil fertility and encourages erosion but I have never known any alternative to it. And I can bet that most farmers here, if not all, don't know this either. This is my first time of hearing the terms undergrowth and overgrowth as approaches to sustainable agriculture.
I will begin to tell whoever cares to listen in this part of the world about this discovery.
Thanks you my friend @ecoinstant for using your precious time to educate me on this.
Looking forwards to continuous rapport between us.
@eurogee