better farming series 18 bananas FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS I is s, r a -year in n and ining u d a or as ind idual 1. The plant: the I ing plant; the root 2. The plant: the stem; the buds; the leaves The plant: the flower he soil: ho e soil is made up The soil: how conse the soil 6. The soil: how imp ve e soil 7. rop rming nima! husband : feeding and care of animals 9. nima! husbandry: animal diseases; how animals reproduce rm busine 11.. e b eding 12. heep and go breeding 13. eping chic ns 14. Farming with animal r 15. ereais 16. Roots and tubers 17. Groundnuts 18. Bananas 19. arket gardening 20. Upland rice 21. et paddy or swamp rice 22. ocoa 23. Co-ffee 24. The oil palm 25. The rubber tree 2 . The modern farm business 1 Published by arrangement with the lnstitut africain pour le developpement economique social B.P. 8008, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire FOOD AND ICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome 1977 First printing 1977 ISBN 92-5-100149-9 ©French edition, lnstitut africain pour le developpment economique et social (I NADES) 1971 ©English edition, FAQ 1977 This manual is a translation and adaptation of 0 le bananier ," published by the Agri-Service-Afrique of the lnstitut africain pour le developpement economique et social (IN ES), and forms part of a series of 26 booklets.Grateful acknowledge­ ment is made to the publishers for making available this text, which it is hoped will find widespread use at the intermediate level of agricultural education and training in English-speaking countries. he original texts were prepared for an African environment and this is naturally reflected in the English version. However, it is expected that many of the manuals of the series - a I ist of which will be found on the inside front cover - will also be of value for training in many other parts of the world. Adaptations can be made to the text where necessary owing to different climatic and ecological conditions. Applications for permission to issue this manual in other languages are welcomed. Such applications should be ad­ dressed to: Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. The author of this English version is Mr. A.J. Henderson, former Chief of the FAQ Editorial Branch. • 2 • 3 Description 4 Underground stem and roots .... , ......... , . , , 4 Apparent trunk , . , . , . , . 4 Leaves Ill Ill O Iii D Iii lil Iii m Ii) D Ill Ill Q Iii Ill lit Iii D a Ill D Ill Ill a D Iii D II Iii Ill Iii O Iii D 5 Flowers O II Ill Ill D Iii Iii O Ill O Iii Ill e D D Ill Iii Iii Ill e D Iii ti Ill Ill Iii Ill Ill m Iii Ill Ill fl Iii 5 Fruit Q Iii Ill m Iii II m Ill Iii Iii Iii m m II Ill D Ill D Ill l!I Iii D l!I Ill l!I Ill m O a Ill l!I l!I Ill O Iii Q 7 • to grow bananas . , . 8 Preparing the ground and making the plantation. 9 Preparing the soil. 9 Digging the planting holes . 10 Planting the suckers. 11 ._..__..__..... ing after the plantation . 12 Keeping the soil clean . 12 Applying fertilizers ....... , .. , ............. , 13 Pruning O Iii Iii Iii l!I D Iii Iii Ill Ii! a Ill • Ill II Ill Ill a a u Ill l!I fl O Ill D O e m O m Ill Ill D 1 Supporting the plant , . , . 15 Looking after the fruit . 15 Protection against insects and diseases. 16 • Harvesting and use of bananas. 19 Harvesting a O Iii II Ill • D O a a D D Ill • a D D •• u O a a u u a. II Cl e ii a Ill 19 Output of a plantation . 19 Use of bananas . 19 Running a comm~rcial banana plantation . 23 • Suggested question paper . 27 1 banana plant is grown r its are grown m chiefly for export. These bananas are soft, sweet, and not very mealy. Two main kinds are planted: • Varieties of the so-called Chinese banana, or Canary banana, such as Lacatan (chiefly in Jamaica), Poyo, Big Dwarf, Little Dwarf. • Varieties of the fig banana, such as Gros Michel. Around houses you often see another variety which produces very small bananas called "sweet figs." The kind of banana called plantain is grown as a food crop in forest regions. Its fruits are· very large, not sweet and very mealy. They are cooked for eating. There are two main types of plantains: • French plantains, with heavy bunches containing many fruits; • horn plantains, with very big fruits, few in number, shaped like a horn. 2 banana needs heat, humid air, plenty water, light. It dislikes wind. It likes soils rich in organic matter. It likes soils that drain quick Once picked, bananas should not be left long in the plantation. Banana plants are planted along roads, tracks, railway lines or lagoons so that the fruits can be quickly moved away. In the world as a whole, Central. and South America produce most bananas· - nearly 20 million tons a year. Asia produces 10.2 million tons and Africa million tons. In Africa, the chief producers of bananas are: Angola 320 000 tons Madagascar 280 000 tons Ivory Coast 230 000 tons Central African Empire 1 000 tons Somalia 1 000 tons Cameroon 90 000 tons Guinea 90 000 tons The above figures (for 1974) are from the F AO Production yearbook 1 The production of plantains is often not counted. 3. It is a giant herbaceous with an apparent trunk that bends without breaking (see Booklet No. 2, page 10). Suckers .Underground 77/~~i--~­ stem banana plant banana has an underground stem with adventitious roots (see Booklet No. 1, page 25). It is fu 11 of food for the plant. Alongside the main stem, it has other stems caHed suckers. These stems grow into banana plants. t. The banana plant produces its fruit and dies. Another sucker replaces it. An underground stem with suckers 4 dose rolled up one Together they look like a but they form only an Rolled part of leaf Banana leaf Inside it there is a bud which produces leaves. After 7 or 8 months, ~ , when some 30 leaves have grown, 11/ -0 ' I the bud produces flowers. 'I The flowers of the banana plant form a· large spike (see Booklet' No. 3, page 6). It turns downward, to the soil and opens. It bears male and female flowers. The spike comes out of the apparent trunk and turns to the ground. 5 • pressed closely together in the shape hands. The bunch is formed; the hands are turning up. a bud I at the end of the spike containing the male the male flowers die quickly and the bud slowly becomes smaller. Male flower bud The flower is opening 6 The banana plant yields These fruits are long in shape, with yellow or green skin. The spike produces many bananas. is nch, the bananas are clu~'!l'aror11 in several flesh of a banana is light in colour, sweet and soft. in the middle of the fruit you can se~ little black specks; these are the seeds, but they will not germinate (see Booklet No. 1, page 8). Seeds Section of a banana 7 banana plantati may last a long time. t if you want good harvests, if you want to till the soil well, d up 10 When you nave dug up the banana plants, let the ground lie fallow for 2 years. Plant a legume such as Calopogonium, Pueraria or Sty/osanthes. After 2 years, dig in the legumes as green manure (see Booklet No. 6, page 8). You can then plant bananas again. In Ivory Coast, in commercial plantations, bananas are dug up after cutting three bunches of fruit on each plant. The replanting is done immediately. Traditional plantations are short-lived, for instance, ·5 years in Cameroon, 2 to 4 years in equatorial Africa and Zaire. in these plantations other food crops are grown along with the bananas, such as tania in southern Cameroon. In Zaire attempts have been made to grow banana plants and rubber trees together, and bananas and oil palm. Rubber trees and oil palms do not come into production quickly. Between the rows of these trees, bananas are planted; they do produce a crop quickly and the planter earns some money while he is waiting to harvest latex and fruit clusters. When you make a cocoa plantation, plant a banana sucker beside each cocoa tree. The banana will provide shade for the young cocoa tree. 8 For a good plantation, you must: • prepare the soil well, • make planting holes in rows, do the planting well. p E ING E IL Clear the ground, cut up the trees, stack them and burn them. Some ground is too wet; the water prevents the roots from developing. Soil I ike this must be drained to get rid of the water (see Booklet No. 6, page 20). Make ditches every 15 metres in the direction of the slope. Dig a big central ditch that will carry away all the water. Make ditches on each side of the plantation. Push pieces of wood into the ground, in rows, to mark the spots where a banana plant is to be grown. The distance between the banana plants varies with the variety and the method of growing them.