INTRODUCTION
The banana originated in South Asia
region to northern Australia and is popular with most communities in Kenya.
Production is scattered all over the country. Only a very small proportion of
the Kenyan crop is exported. Most of it is consumed locally. Bananas can be
eaten ripe as a dessert or cooked.
DESCRIPTION
The banana plant has a cylindrical,
succulent, pseudo stem, with a cylindrical leaf petiole sheath reaching a
height of 6-7.5m and arising from fleshy rhizomes or corm. Suckers spring up
around the main plant. The eldest sucker replaces the main plant when it fruits
and dies, and this process of succession continues indefinitely. Tender,
smooth, oblong or elliptic, flesh-stalled leaves numbering 4 or 5 to 15, are
arranged spirally, and can be up to 2.7 m long and 60 cm wide. The
inflorescence, a transformed wing point, is a terminal spike, shooting out from
the heart in the tip of the stem.
VARIETIES
Local cultivars in Kenya are
‘Muraru’, ‘Kiganda’, ‘Sukari’ among others and they are adopted to various
agro-ecological zones. They can be eaten as dessert or cooked.
Improved cultivars includes, Apple, Gross Michel, Kampala, Dwarf Cavendish, Giant
Cavendish, Williams, Grand Nain, Valery, Poyo and Lacatan. Tall varieties are
Poyo and Lacatan, while medium varieties include Valery, Paz and Williams.
The recommended banana varieties for
export in Kenya are Apple (sweet Banana), Giant Cavendish, Lacatan, Sabaki,
Valery, Red Banana (all dessert type), and Uganda Green (cooking type)
Giant Cavendish and Lacatan are
resistant to Panama disease and have fruits with blunt tips. The bunch is
irregularly shaped. Bracts and male flowers are persistent on the lower part
of the male axis. In Poyo the male bracts fall off. Valery is also a Cavendish
cultivar,which is more wind resistant than Giant Cavendish. Important varieties
are
VARIETIES GROWN IN KENYA
o Lacatan
o Apple
o Gross Michel
o Kampala
o Dwarf Cavendish
o Uganda Green
o Giant Cavendish
o Williams
o Grand Nain
o Valery
o Poyo
o Paz
o Muraru
o Kiganda
o Sukari
Agro-ecological zones
Banana- growing zones range from
Coastal Lands to Lower Highland zones.
Altitudes
Altitudes of below 1800 m above sea
level are generally recommended for the production of bananas.
Temperature
For optimal growth, bananas require
a warm humid climate. An average temperature of 20°C to 30°C is required. Below
20°C, normal plant growth is retarded. Lacatan and Valery tolerates cold
weather better than other varieties. Cooler areas (higher altitudes) slow down
plant development and the inflorescence may also fail to emerge.
Rainfall
Bananas can grow well with an annual
rainfall of 1000 to 2500 mm. optimal yields require a well distributed annual
rainfall of 1400 mm or more, without long dry spells.
Soils
Bananas can be grown in a wide range
of soils as long as there is good drainage and adequate fertility. They can
tolerate short periods of flooding but do require good soil aeration. Light to
medium, well drained loam soil is the best. Fertile deep soils rich in humus
should be chosen wherever possible. For best growth, a pH range of 5.5 to 6.5
is recommended.
Suitable Areas
Bananas can be grown successfully in
many parts of the country including Kisii, Kakamega, Bungoma, Meru, Murang’a,
Embu, Nyeri, Kerio Valley, Kericho ,Baringo, Kirinyaga and the coastal region.
They can also be grown in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni districts and also drier
areas under irrigation.
CULTURAL PRACTICES
Good agricultural practices
International regulations on food
safety and social accountability in the production of fresh produce are
becoming ever stricter. Consumers are becoming more and more particular about
the quality, safety and reliability of the fresh products they buy. The main
buying countries require the implementation of GAP. The GAP guidelines aim at
producing a product that is safe, environment friendly, socially acceptable and
of high quality. The following are the guidelines which are expected to be
implemented by the farmers and exporters.
·
Keep up to date farm production records in order to maintain consumer
confidence in food quality and safety.
·
Apply proper crop protection strategies in order to reduce the use of
chemicals.
·
Observe the required standards during transportation, storage and disposal of
pesticides in order to minimize detrimental impact on the environment while
conserving nature and wildlife.
·
Observe hygiene requirements during harvesting and post harvest handling of
produce.
·
Adhere to regulations of wages and conditions of the employment act.
·
Adhere to environmental protection regulations.
Some buyers of produce require producers
to be certified according to specific codes of practice. This involves
inspection, auditing by an external/ independent Auditor, and be given a
certificate of good compliance to good agricultural practice by a certified
body e.g. Africert, Bureau Veritas, SOS, among others. Some of these Codes of
practice include EUREPGAP, BRC etc. in Kenya, we have Kenya Standard Code of
Practice for horticultural industry registered by the Kenya Bureau of Standards
(KS 17580), Kenya Flower Council Code of Practice and Fresh Producers
Association of Kenya (FPEAK) Code of practice. In addition Kenya GAP is being
developed by FPEAK to be benchmarked with EUREPGAP for ease of interpretation
and implementation.
Land preparation
Before planting, deep soil
cultivation by ploughing and harrowing is recommended. The fields should be
free of trees, bushes and especially perennial weeds.
Spacing
The spacing depends on the variety,
soil fertility level, and rainfall (water availability). The following spacing
is recommended under a five-year cycle on a fertile soil with adequate
rainfall:
·
Short variety (Dwarf Cavendish, Giant Cavendish) 2.5m × 3m.
·
Medium variety (Valery, Williams) 3.0m × 4.0m
·
Tall variety (Lacatan, Poyo) 4.0m× 4.0.
Planting
A planting hole measuring 90 cm ×90
cm × 60 cm is recommended although this may vary depending on water
availability. In dry and semi arid areas it is recommended to use larger holes
measuring 90 cm × 90 cm × 60 cm. the topsoil and the subsoil should be kept
separately. Mix the topsoil with one debe (about 20 kg) of well decomposed
manure and 150 g of TPS. Refill the hole with the top soil first followed by
the sub soil.
To ensure good anchorage, a sucker
or a corm with the eyes facing upward should be placed 30 cm deep in the
planting hole. A heavy cover of mulch should be placed around each plant to
conserve soil moisture. Under rain fed conditions, planting should be carried
out only at the onset of the rains. However, if irrigation water is available, planting
can be done throughout the year.
Planting Materials
Clean, healthy planting material
consisting of side shoots, or pieces of corm with one to two eyes can be used.
Cutting back of the mature shoots encourages the production of side shoots. The
material commonly used in Kenya is the sucker and Tissue Culture seedlings.
There are two types of suckers,
namely: the sword and the water suckers. The sword sucker emerges from the
lower part of the stem, has a well developed base and narrow sword shaped leaves.
The water sucker emerges close to the soil surface and has a limited number of
roots and broad leaves. The sword suckers are preferred for planting. The
larger the sucker, the faster the plants will come into production. Defoliate
the suckers before planting.
Tissue Culture
the use of tissue culture plantlets
in Kenya is the most recommended method of propagation because of the following
advantages.
·
Rapid seedling multiplication
·
Healthy planting materials free of disease and pests.
·
Minimal replacement after planting and immediate continuation of growth.
·
Early bearing/ maturity.
·
Higher yields
Fertilizer and Manure Application
At planting , about 200 g of triple
super phosphate (TSP) should be applied per plant. An early and good supply of
nitrogen fertilizer is essential to accelerate the growth of pseudo-stems and
faster flowering. To 300 g of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) should be
distributed around each stool per year, together with 125 g of TSP, which is
worked into the soil.
Two to four debes of decomposed
farmyard manure is applied per stem per year before the rains. This is applied
on the outer diameter of the canopy. A short forked hoe is used to incorporate
the manure shallowly and carefully, to ensure no root damage.
Weeding
Cultivation should always be shallow
because a banana plant is shallow rooted. If mechanical weeding is done, care
should be taken to avoid any disturbance of the roots. Earthing up of the stem
base is required in windy areas.
Mulching
A well maintained, heavy mulch cover
will suppress unwanted weed growth, retain moisture, and provide humus for a
good soil structure. Grass, banana leaves, or old pseudo-stems mulch can be
used to return the nutrients to the soil. However, the use of old pseudo-stems
can encourage banana weevil infestation. The stem should therefore be well
chopped and allowed to dry before use.
Pruning and Staking
To provide bigger and higher quality
bunches, bananas have to be desuckered regularly to control any unwanted sucker
growth. Only three pseudo-stems should be allowed to remain on each corm: one
bearing, one half grown, and one just sprouting. Surplus suckers should be
removed as early as possible in their development and perhaps used as planting
material. Dead leaves should be removed at least twice a year. After
harvesting, the pseudo-stem should be cut off from the plant at ground level.
Staking of the fruit bearing
pseudo-stemshould be done to prevent breakage caused by heavy bunches. Staking
with wood or bamboo requires digging a hole about 40 to 60 cm deep at the base
of the stem to install the prop. Tie the bunch to the prop near the portion
where the fruit stalk emerges from the stem. Y-sticks can also be used for
staking.
Irrigation
Water is needed particularly at
flowering. Therefore, in drier areas supplemental irrigation may be necessary
during this time.
Wind Break
Bananas are adversely affected by
strong wind. Planting in sheltered positions and in blocks, rather than in strips,
is recommended. If planted in blocks, the plants provide each other with some
protection against the wind.
Fruit Protection
Skin blemishes can ruin the value of
the banana bunch. The bract and stem leaves that may rub against the developing
fruit need to be removed on a regular basis.
The male flower bud is removed after
it has grown 15 cm below the last hand. Bagging developing bunches with
polythene bags can be done to protect the fruit. The bags can be clear or
colored and are perforated to allow air circulation. Bagged fruit develops
three to four days earlier.
Intercropping
In orchards with wider plant
spacing, intercropping is possible during the entire cultivation period.
Orchards with close spacing can only be intercropped in the first year.
Maturity/Harvesting
The time for planting to maturity of
a banana depends on area and variety. A plant takes roughly 8 to 12 months to
mature. Maturity indices vary widely among varieties. Angularities or fullness
of fingers, as well as color change are some of the standard criteria used.
Immature bananas are very angular but fill out to a rounded shape at full
maturity.
Fruits are ready for harvesting 90 –
150 days after fingers start to form. Fingers are considered mature for harvest
when they are ¾ round (75% maturity)
Bananas are harvested green at
varying stages of maturity depending on market requirement. While harvesting,
bunches should never be allowed to fall on the ground after severing from the
plant, to avoid fruit damage. For home consumption, the bunch is cut from the
stem after fingers begin to turn light green and the edges of the fruit change
from angular to round. Bananas harvested at this stage will ripen within one to
two week’s time. After harvesting the bunch, the pseudo-stem is cut off with a
clean implement at ground level. The cut is covered with soil to avoid easy
entry by the banana weevil.
Yields
The average yield is 35 to 45 t/ha
under good management. The economic lifespan of a banana plantation is 8 to 10
years, after which productivity declines.
Field Handling
Bunches must be handled gently and
protected from direct sun. When cutting bunches, padded trays on which the
bunch is received should be used. The padding material can be in the form of
number of gunny bags or dry banana leaves folded together. Bunches should then
be carried carefully on the tray to a central place or a collection shed for
grading and packaging. Bunches should be wrapped with protective material (e.g.
dry banana leaves) to protect fruits against damage.
Collection Shed
Location of the shed should be
accessible to both the farmers and buyers. The design of the shed should have a
level of flexibility. Floor should have well designed layout that allows
efficient interaction of facilities or activities. This reduces the floor area
requirement as well as time and labor costs. It also allows easy cleaning and
other activities.
Personal hygiene is important and
hence facilities such as toilets and clean water should be at close proximity.
All workers should maintain high standards of personal hygiene. Smoking, eating
or chewing is prohibited.
Portable clean running water should
be availed and appropriately marked and placed to facilitate hygiene in the
premises. It is vital to test water for microbial and bacterial contents
regularly and records for chemical treatments safely kept. Disposal systems if
any waste including all the rejects should be environmentally acceptable.
Loading and dispatch area should be
very clean and firm enough to facilitate easy accessibility of any vehicle or
operation.
Quality control facilities,
procedure, standard and records should be availed per produce type to enhance
quality. These facilities include waste buckets, decomposition pit, quality
assuarance rulers, coolants, tables etc. a charcoal cooler should be provided
in the storage rooms before dispatch.
PACK HOUSE OPERATIONS
Sorting
Undesirable fruits should be removed
to improve appearance of the bananas. These include fingers with insect and
disease damage such as thrips and rust damage, leaf rub marks, and sever latex
staining. Dead flower remains should also be carefully removed.
Cleaning
Bananas for the export market are
usually cut into hands. The cut end should be carefully trimmed with a special
curved knife. The hands are then washed in clean water followed by a fungicidal
treatment. Washing is essential to allow latex flow from the cut crown to be
completed before packaging the fruits. Latex stains are usually unsightly when
the fruits ripen.After draining excess water, the hands are packed in
fiberboard boxes for marketing.
Packing
Bananas for the export market should
ideally be wrapped with a soft paper and packaged in fiberboard cartons. Hands
with small fingers are place in the center of the box. The fruits should not
protrude from the packed box.
Pre-cooling
Bananas should be pre-cooled to a
temperature of 12°C to 13°C.
Storage
Field heat and the subsequent
transport and storage temperatures affect the length of the pre-climacteric
period. Pre-cooled bananas are held at low temperature of 13°C. the optimum
storage relative humidity is 85% to 90%. Below a temperature of 12°C, most
banana cultivars suffer chilling injury. Both ripe and green bananas are
susceptible to chilling injury although green ones are slightly more
susceptible.
Transportation
Bananas must be transported to the
market while green. In this condition, they can be handled without softening
and with relatively little damage. If refrigerated trucks are used for
transporting the bananas, the temperature should be maintained at 13°C
5. Ensure the product is registered for use on the crop and follow instructions on the label.
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