Hi everyone,in todays #celestialchallenge initiated by @sirknight with the theme:Agriculture, I would be talking about plantain farming.
Plantain (musa spp.), belongs to the banana family Musaceae*.It is one of the less sweet cultivated variety of the Musa family whose fruit is known as the banana.
Nigeria is one of the largest plantain producing countries in the world but despite its prominence, Nigeria does not feature among plantain exporting nations because it produces more for local consumption.
Plantain as a parthenocarpic plant i.e. it is a seedless fruit, is propagated via its vegetative parts such as suckers or corms (short underground stem that serves as a storage). Plantain needs a hot and humid environment to do well exceptionally.
When choosing a site of farmland for plantain, a few factors must be considered such as,
- Exposure to sunlight
- Flat or slightly sloping land (not too steep)
- Virgin land is preferable due to high levels of organic matter (plantain does well in loamy soils), amongst others.
An interesting fact about plantain or banana is that you could buy plantain suckers at just #150 per sucker and sell of the plantain harvest for up to #2000 or more per bunch.
Another point to note is that it saves you costs in terms of food as you no longer have to buy from outside which makes you susceptible to various forms of dangers as some sellers might employ various means just to make a living or more profit thus rubbing with chemicals or injecting the produce (some of which are not even matured) and sell at high prices to customers.
Why not plant a plantain tree in your backyard and eat safe plantain/banana at your own convenience without any fear?
This plantain is s special delicacy prepared by frying (plantain chips if unripe, and dodo if ripe) or by boiling, whichever suits your taste buds. This could be for your personal home use or as a means of income when sold outside as we can out rightly see in Nigeria. I can say I don’t have to bother about buying banana to eat with my groundnut from outside because I have a lot at home which basically is too much for only me and my family we practically share to others anytime we harvest.
Recently, plantain has been processed into flour which is gradually substituting the use of wheat flour due to its superior nutritional value. The demand for plantain is on the increase as there is always market for the product.
Go and fill up the empty land space in your backyard with plantain and be sure to reap the fruits of your investment sooner or later.
Maturing banana
Harvested plantain
phia specie banana
All pictures were taken by me with my Samsung mobile phone
Thanks for reading through!
How long does it take for it to attain maturity and be ready for harvesting?
It takes the trees 10 to 15 months to grow to the stage in which it can bear fruits and 4 to 8 moths to grow plantains matured enough for harvesting
With this post i think i want to go into plantain farming now. Nice one
Please do, its truly a profitable venture. Thanks for dropping by
Cool! up + follow.
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