How To Start Plantain And Banana Plantation And Make Million
How To Start Plantain And Banana Plantation And Make Million
Plantains thrive in
tropical regions where the warm temperature, bright sun and adequate moisture
create optimum growing environments. Tropical soils, however, are not always
suitable for plantain production.
What
You Need For Plantain Farming
To cultivate plantain
plantation, you will need the following:-
1. 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 remain 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
There is a corm at
the bottom of each mature plantain tree. In transplanting a sucker, it is
necessary to cut downwards and get as much corm and root as possible. Plant
these and cut or decapitate the sucker to facilitate good evaporation. Keep
around two to five meters between planted suckers. In the early days of your
plant, keep them moist but not too wet as they don’t have leaves yet to
evaporate the water.
4. 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. Use traditional weed control of employing
laborer to do the weed cutting.
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.
Unlike other trees,
plantain do not need complicated pruning. Just remove dead leaves and dead
plants near the plantain. Also remove suckers from the plant keeping only one
or two that have spear shaped leaves.
If you must use a
fertilizer, Use an NPK fertilizer, or a fertilizer mixed with nitrogen,
potassium and phosphorous. Fertilizing the plantains once a month will
stimulate growth. The fertilizer should be placed evenly in a circle that is
four to eight feet from the trunk.
Within 8-10months
your plantain should be ready to produce, and as one is getting matured for
harvest, another one is replacing it, they continue in that circle removing any
stress expenses of planting again. All you do is to harvest and reap your
profits all year round. The same thing apply to Banana.
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