Banana Farming

Banana Farming

Banana Farming

 Introduction: 

                    Banana (Musa sp.) is a large perennial herb with leaf sheaths that form trunk like pseudostem. Banana has its origin in tropical region of South East Asia. Banana is a nutritious gold mine. They are high in vitamin B6, which helps fight infection and is essential for the synthesis of heme, the iron containing part of hemoglobin. They are also rich in potassium and are a great source of fibre. In recent years, considering the adverse impact of indiscriminate use of chemicals, new trend for organic production of banana is increasing in the country. A new name, i.e. "Green Foods" for this has been coined. 

                  Growing bananas does not require much effort but to achieve high yields requires skills, dedication, and proper planting methods. Below are some pertinent guides that any Banana growers should be aware of. The list is not exhaustive and certainly requires some adjustments depending on the variety of the Bananas.

Climate:

                                                 Bananas need warm subtropical climate, adequate moisture and protection from wind. Most varieties of Bananas grow best with 12 hours of bright light and high humidity of 50% or higher. The ideal temperature range is around 26-30°C (78-86F) with RH regime of 75-85%. Growth begins at 18ºC, reaches optimal growth at 27ºC and stop entirely when temperature reaches 38ºC. Although Bananas grow best in bright sunlight, high temperature will scorch leaves and fruit. For best appearance and higher photosynthetic rate, wind protection is advisable. High velocity wind which exceeds 80km per hour damages the leaf. Bananas are also vulnerable to being blown over due to the weight of the stem of fruit. Thus, Propping should be done during the last few months of its life cycle before harvest.

Soil :

           Bananas need rich, moisture and well-drained soil with 40% clay, 75% silt, 85% loam. Bananas prefer a more acidic soil with pH between 6-7.5. Low pH soil makes banana more susceptible to Panama disease. Avoid soil that is sandy, salty, nutritionally deficient and ill-drained soil. If soil is not in the most favorable condition, improve it! Light sandy soil can be improved by placing mulch around the Banana plants. This will improve water retention and prevent nutrients from percolating quickly into the soil. Nutritionally deficient soil can be improved by incorporating organic matter to the soil before you plant your Bananas and then mulch them thickly. This process should be repeated as often as possible. Bananas do not tolerate waterlogging because its roots will rot. This however can be resolved by planting the Bananas in raised beds.

 Varieties of Banana :

                                     there are diffrent varieties depending upon its time to cultivation are as follows

Bananas varieties	Weight (kg)			Planting to Flowering (months)		Flowering to Harvest (months)
	Suckers	Tissue Culture	Optimal	Suckers	Tissue Culture
Dessert
Berangan	10 – 15	12 – 18	25 – 36	10 – 12	7 – 8	11 – 12
Cavendish (Novaria)	-	20 – 25	30 – 40	10 – 12	6 – 7	10 – 12
Cavendish (Montel)	-	20 – 25	30 – 40	10 – 12	6 – 7	10 – 12
Emas	8 – 10	8 – 10	10 – 15	8 – 10	6 – 7	7 – 8
Embun	14 – 25	20 – 25	30 – 40	10 – 12	6 – 7	10 – 12
Rastali	10 – 14	12 – 18	20 – 30	10 – 12	7 – 8	11 – 12
Raja	12 – 16	12 – 18	20 – 30	-	7 – 8	11 – 12
For cooking
Abu	15 – 22	15 – 28	30 – 40	7 – 9	12 – 14	14 – 16
Awak	18 – 22	18 – 22	20 – 25	7 – 9	7 – 8	11 – 12
Gading	15 – 20	15 – 20	20 – 25	7 – 9	7 – 8	11 – 12
Nangka	15 – 20	15 – 25	25 – 30	7 – 9	7 – 8	11 – 12
Tanduk	7 – 10	7 – 12	-	7 – 9	7 – 8	11 – 12

 Planting :

Planting Material :

The best way is to start with tissue culture plantlets. Tissue culture plantlets are recommended for planting because suckers, in general, are infected with some soil-borne pathogen and nematodes.
Tissue culture plantlets are healthy, pest and disease free, uniform and shorter harvesting period. Suckers on the contrary are not uniform and have a rather longer-harvesting period thus management of the plantation can be somewhat wearisome.

Planting Time :

                        Tissue culture Bananas can be planted throughout the year.

Nutrients Required By Bananas :

                                                        Bananas need nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium with a ratio of 3:1:6 and other micronutrients to ensure the plants grow vigorously.

Crop Geometry :

                             The most economical and efficient spacing is 1.82m x 1.52m with 3,630 plants per hectare (a wide spacing of 1.82 m between rows). The diagram below provides a good indication of how the plants should be planted: -

However, the above spacing is only possible with fertigation. Bananas can be planted with higher density at 1.5m x 1.5 m but yields are poor due to competition for sunlight. The recommended spacing is at 2.0m x 2.5m with 2,000 plants per hectare since that is the standard distance to minimize Sigatoka.

Planting Method :

                              20% of perlite should be mixed with the soil for optimal growth. Depending on the soil quality, one must apply the appropriate method as well as the depth and spacing at which plants are required to be planted.
Step 1: Mark the spots where the plants will be planted. Avoid marking and planting as you go because any oversight may lead to uneven spread of the Bananas. The best method to avoid this from happening is to use a long measuring tape.
Step 2: Dig a hole with a foot in diameter and ten (10) to twelve (12) inches deep and place the plants in the hole keeping the pseudo-stem 1 inch below the ground level.
Step 3: Toss a small amount of fertilizer into the hole to boost the growth of the plant and fill the hole with soil. Soil around the plant should be tramped down firmly to remove air pockets.

Intercropping :

Onion, soyabean and cowpea can be grown as intercrop in Banana by planting on raised bed which will give additional income. Growing intercrops like cowpea and soyabean also helps in suppressing weed growth. In preparation of model scheme, the income and expenditure for intercropping is not considered.

Manuring :

15 t of FYM/compost is applied at the time of land preparation. After plantation, the manuring is done by applying 5 kg FYM, 2 Kg Bhumilab, 20 g trichoderma and 30-50 ml humus per plant in first year and FYM @ 10 kg, Bhumilab @ 2.5 - 3 kg per plant during subsequent two years. The spraying of Gomutra (Cow urine) and Jeevamrut is also taken up. The jeevamrut is prepared by adding 10 kg cowdung, 5 l of cow urine, 2 kg black jaggery, 2 kg ground pulses powder, handful of bund soil in 200 l of water, the solution is kept for 2 to 7 days in shade for fermentation. During the fermentation, the solution is stirred on daily. Biofertilizers like Azatobacter(20 g/plant), Phosphate Solubilizing bacteria (PSB) (20 g/plant) and EM solution at the rate of 1 l per acre. The EM (Effective Microorganisms) solution is prepared by adding 1 l EM, 2 kg black jaggery, 50 g salt mixed in a drum of suitable size.

Irrigation :

The plants need to be irrigated immediately after planting. About 30-40 weekly irrigations are required. When summer temperature crosses 37.5 0C, irrigation on every 3rd day is essential. Inadequate irrigation to banana leads to delayed flowering, irregular bunch size, delayed maturity, reduced fingers and poor keeping quality of the fruits. The drip system of irrigation is being followed in most of the organic banana cultivation in Maharashtra. In this model scheme, the cost of installation of drip is not considered.

Interculture operations :

  Propping :

                    Propping or supporting the bearing plants can be done by suitable propping material like bamboo or wooden poles.

   
Mulching :

                   Mulching is desirable immediately after planting. Mulching controls weed growth, conserves moisture, hastens growth and improves yield.

   
Desuckering :

                        All varieties of banana throw suckers from 2-3 months after planting. All these suckers should not be allowed to grow as they will compete with the mother plants for water and nutrients thereby reducing the yield of main crop. Desuckering with sickle at 15-20 days interval right from the beginning till flowering is essential. Wrapping the bunches is essential to have blemish / bruise free fruits with uniform size and quality. For this, black coloured polythene may be used for covering the fruits

Other operations :

Weeding is done 3-4 times in a year. Trashing is done by removing dried leaves. Earthing up of the soil is required to be carried out two times annually

  Plant Protection :

The major pests and diseases observed in banana crop are rhizome weevil, nematodes, bunchy top, leaf spot, etc. In the case of organic farming, dasparni arka and neem cake are used to control pests and diseases. The dasparni arka, which means mixture of leaves of ten kinds of plants (das=ten, parna=leaf, arka=concentrated form of solution) is prepared by adding 25 kg neem leaves and 2 kg leaves each of custard apple, nirgudi, kaner, cotton, papaya, castor, karanj, gudwel, drumstick in 200 l of water, 5 to 10 l of gomutra & 2 kg of green chillies, the solution is kept for 15-20 days for fermentation. The stock solution is prepared by filtration through muslin cloth. The spraying is done by diluting the arka further by adding 100 l of water to 2.5 l of the arka.

 

Harvesting :

The crop gets ready for harvest after 11-12 months of planting. First ratoon crop is ready after 8-10 months from harvesting the main crop and second ratoon after 8 months of harvesting of the first ratoon crop. Thus over the period of 27-30 months, it is possible to harvest three crops i.e. one main crop and two ratoon crops.

 

Yield :

           With the conservative estimate, it is expected that at least 80% of the plants would produce bunches of banana. Accordingly, the yield/ha is estimated as under :-