- Get link
- Other Apps
Featured Post
Posted by
Maendeleo Vijijini
on
- Get link
- Other Apps
The huge banana plants on his farm in Kisumu County are like a
magnet, as they attract people who come to ask if they can buy them.
Michael
Agalo, the owner of the farm, says he receives several queries about
the bananas that have turned him into a point of reference in his
village when it comes to good farming practices.
“The
bananas are tissue cultured varieties,” he says. “In tissue culture,
there are three varieties. I plant two — Uganda Green and Williams
variety — which do very well here.”
The varieties are
pest and disease resistant and they give higher yields. Agalo went into
banana farming after Africa Now, an NGO, visited the region and
encouraged them to venture into agribusiness.
“They
brought together people who were interested in farming and asked us to
choose what we wanted to plant. Other villagers and I chose bananas
because we knew they had a ready market.”
Each farmer
was given 25 suckers in form of a loan. They were to plant the crop and
after they produced suckers, they would harvest and give to other
farmers five suckers each.
To plant bananas, Agalo
explains, one should first dig a hole of about 1m wide by 1m deep. One
then separates the top soil from sub soil.
“You then
mix the top soil and compost manure in the same ratio and then put the
mixture into the hole.” The mixture is left for one month for good
mixing before planting. “When you plant the sucker immediately into the
soil, the compost manure can burn it because it normally produces a lot
of heat, which is dangerous to the crop.” After about a month, one
plants the suckers. “Mulching is necessary. This can be done by use of
dry grass or leaves to prevent evaporation. Mulching also adds moisture
into the soil.”
After every six months, the plant should be top-dressed with urea or Calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser.
“The
plant will produce many suckers, which should be harvested, but the
mother plant should be left to produce more,” he explains. To get good
yields and to avoid many suckers in a single hole, three suckers should
be left in each hole.
He supplies his bananas to hotels
in Kisumu, and at times sells to small-scale buyers on his farm. He
also sells them in markets in Kisumu.
“I have a ready market at Kibuye on Sundays,” says Agalo, who makes at least Sh20,000 per month from the crop.
The bananas sell for between Sh500 to Sh1,000, depending on size.
“If
you want to keep customers happy, you must produce the best by spending
on new techniques and varieties,” says Agalo, who also grows
traditional vegetables, tomatoes and beans. The three crops earn him an
additional Sh50,000 a month. He depends on rain, thus during dry
seasons, he parts with huge sums of money to water his crops.
According
to Dr Lusike Wasilwa of Kenya Agriculture Research Institute, the
Uganda Green and Williams banana varieties have a wide adaptability.
She
adds that Uganda Green is good for cooking, is sweet and has a nice
smell. Williams has a good ripening characteristic, has good taste, is
large and mild, which is good for commercial purposes.
“Bananas
are very good sources of potassium, which can help relax the pounding
blood vessels. They help to cure or prevent hangovers. The main causes
of hangovers are dehydration and depletion of potassium. If you want to
avoid a hangover, drink water and eat a banana.”
CREDIT: NMG
CREDIT: NMG
Comments
Post a Comment