3 Steps to Rightly Plant Your Plantain Suckers for Maximum Yield
Have you ever wondered why some healthy, vigorously growing plantain suckers with a high yielding potential produce little fruits upon maturity?
Have you ever planted your suckers only to be hit with the disappearance of rain as soon as you plant your suckers, leading to low yields?
Many farmers experienced this too.
Having properly set up their plantain farms, they found out that at maturity, some of the plantains has few hands (low yield) leading to poor sales and poor income for the farmer.
Some also discovered that some months, even weeks, after planting their suckers, the rains suddenly disappear and leave them to artificially supplying water to their growing suckers which is usually quite stressful and energy-sapping.
If you do not plant your suckers very close to their optimum time, with the right technique and put them in the right hole size, they would not give their best yield and that will mean low sales and low income to your pocket. You do not want that, right?
So how will you go about it?
1. Time to Plant
Suckers are planted immediately after field preparation. Plantains can be planted throughout the rainy season. However, they should grow vigorously and without water stress during the first 3 to 4 months after planting. Therefore they should not be planted during the last months of the rainy season.
Planting with the first rains or last rains may be agronomically sound but financially disadvantageous. Most farmers will plant at the onset of the rains, causing the market to be flooded with bunches 9 to 12 months after planting, when prices will be very low.
Planting with the last rains will mean more stress for the farmer as he must artificially supply water to the plants so as to maintain the optimum soil moisture content and ensure good yield.
Hence, planting in the middle of the rainy season is a better proposition as plantains will then be produced off-season and get high prices.
2. Hole Size to Plant In
Plant holes are prepared with a minimum size of about 30 cm x 30cm x 30 cm, which is about the length of a plastic ruler. Holes can be dug with a shovel. If you are planting for fruit production it should be spaced about 8 to 10 feet.
3. Process for Planting
Care should be taken to separate the topsoil from bottom soil. The sucker is placed in the hole and its corm is covered, first with the topsoil and
then with the bottom soil. This is because the top soil is more fertile than the sub soil and the new sucker requires much nutrients. To supplement the fertility of the top soil, manure can be mixed with it before being placed in the hole.
In the plant hole, the side of the sucker corm which was formerly attached to the corm of its mother plant is placed against the wall of the hole. The opposite side of the sucker’ corm is placed towards the middle of the plant hole, where the soil is loose.
The best sucker (the future ratoon) will emerge at the side opposite to where the planted sucker was previously attached to the mother plant. If the land is sloping, the sucker should be so oriented that its follower will emerge against the slope. That will delay the development of the so-called high mat when the ratoon crop grows out of the soil and exposes the corm.
Source: wwww.medium.com
Importance of Plantain
Plantains contain more starch and less sugar than dessert bananas, therefore they are usually cooked or otherwise processed before being eaten. They are always cooked or fried when eaten green. At this stage, the pulp is hard and the peel often so stiff that it has to be cut with a knife to be removed.
Mature, yellow plantains can be peeled like typical dessert bananas; the pulp is softer than in immature, green fruit and some of the starch has been converted to sugar. They can be eaten raw, but are not as flavourful as dessert bananas, so are usually cooked. When mature, yellow plantains are fried, they tend to caramelize, turning a golden-brown color. They can also be boiled, baked, microwaved or grilled over charcoal, either peeled or unpeeled.
Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, ranking as the tenth most important staple food in the world. As a staple, plantains are treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when the unripe fruit is cooked by steaming, boiling or frying.
Since they fruit all year round, plantains are a reliable all-season staple food, particularly in
developing countries with inadequate food storage, preservation and transportation technologies. In Africa, plantains and bananas provide more than 25 percent of the
carbohydrate requirements for over 70 million people. Musa spp. do not stand high winds well, however, so plantain plantations are liable to destruction by hurricanes.
An average plantain has about 220 calories and is a good source of potassium and dietary fiber. The sap from the fruit peel, as well as the entire plant, can stain clothing and hands, and can be very difficult to remove.
Source: www.nutrition-and-you.com
Health Benefits of Plantains
Plantain relatively has more calories weight for weight than that in the table bananas. 100 g plantain holds about 122 calories, while dessert banana has only 89 calories. Indeed, they are very reliable sources of starch and energy; ensuring food security for millions of inhabitants worldwide.
It contains 2.3 g of dietary fiber per 100 g (6% of DRA per 100 g). The adequate amount of dietary fiber in the food helps regular bowel movements, thereby reducing constipation problems.
Fresh plátanos have more vitamin-C than bananas. 100 g provide 18.4 mg or 31% of daily required levels of this vitamin. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals. However, boiling and cooking destroy much of this vitamin in plantains.
Plantains carry more vitamin A than bananas. 100 g fresh ripe plantains contain 1127 IU or 37.5% of daily required levels of this vitamin. Besides being a powerful antioxidant, vitamin-A plays a vital role in the visual cycle, maintaining healthy mucosa, and enhancing skin complexion.
As in bananas, they too are rich sources of B-complex vitamins, particularly high in
vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine). Pyridoxine is an important B-complex vitamin that has a beneficial role in the treatment of neuritis, anemia, and to decrease homocysteine (one of the causative factors for coronary artery disease (CHD) and stroke episodes) levels in the body. Also, the fruit contains moderate levels of folates, niacin, riboflavin and thiamin.
They also provide adequate levels of minerals such as iron, magnesium, and phosphorous. Magnesium is essential for bone strengthening and has a cardiac-protective role as well.
Fresh plantains have more potassium than bananas. 100 g fruit provides 499 mg of potassium (358 mg per 100 g for bananas ). Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure, countering adverse effects of sodium.
Source: Wikipedia
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