Plantain is the tenth moat important food staple eaten by virtually people of all races all over the world. It can be eaten by either boiling, steaming or frying. The interesting fact about plantain is that it produces fruits all year round. Plantain do well in tropical environment having warm temperature bright sunlight and adequate moisture content which helps it to grow optimally thereby producing fruits.
Plantain farming is a good avenue for entrepreneurs to venture into because it fruits all year round and it thrives in soils in Nigeria moat especially loamy soil. It requires low capital and guarantees profits.
Requirements Needed To Start Plantain Farming
1. Land With Good Soil:
Having said that plantain thrive in virtually all soils it is advised to go for good soils like loamy soil this ensures longetivity in terms of production. Of you go for souls which are shallow like soils in the tropical rain forest regions, the plantain will fruits for 2-3years and will die because of the layers of organic materials in the soil is easily depleted
2. Prepare The Soil:
Plantain grow best in groups because they help protect each other from harsh sunlight.
Harsh sunlight kills the plant therefore it is advised when clearing the land you leave some trees, this helps protect the plant from harsh sunlights and also help preserve
3. Get The Plantain Suckers:
Plantains are planted using plantain suckers gotten from matured plantain plants.
It is important you choose your suckers from plants that are strong
When cutting the sucker from the plant it is advised to cut downward to get as much corm and root as possible.
Plant these by cutting them and keep in a difference of 2-5meters from each other.
4. Control The Weed:
Weed as we know destroys crops it is advised to start controlling the weeds from the early stage employing labourers to cut the weed manually.
Don’t use herbicides to destroy weeds because they can also affect the young growing plants.
Plantain does not need much pruning just remove dead leaves and dead a TV near the plantain plants.
Fertilizers are not advisable but if you must use then use an NPK fertilizer applying it once a month.
As one plant produce fruit and dies another is replacing it thereby removing the stress of replanting.