Cooking banana [Musa paradisiaca] are banana cultivars in the genus Musa whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They may be eaten while ripe or unripe and are generally starchy. Cooking bananas are also referred to as green bananas or plantains. The term “plantain” is loosely applied to any banana cultivar that is eaten when cooked. However, there is no formal botanical distinction between bananas and plantains. Cooking is also a matter of custom, rather than necessity. Ripe plantains can also be eaten raw, since the starches are converted to sugars as they ripen.
Plantains are a major food staple in West and Central Africa, the Caribbean islands, Central America, and northern, coastal parts of South America. They are treated as a starchy fruit with a relatively neutral flavour and soft texture when cooked. As with all bananas, part of the attractiveness of plantains as food is that they fruit all year round, making them a reliable all-season staple food.
SOIL TYPE
Plantain does best in Loamy soils because they contain a good organic to inorganic ratio. Organic materials, such as decaying plants and insects, provide soil with air, nutrients and water-retaining matter. This combination of ingredients, when combined with mineral particles, allows soil to remain loose and fertile.
PREPARING THE FARM
Considering that a plantain plant is not a tree but a type of herb, they cannot actually be grown from seeds like most trees. Plantain plants are grown through suckers. Suckers are those that grow from a dying, mature plantain plant that can be transplanted and re-grown. They may be considered as baby plants that are used to start new plantain plants. Suckers should be chosen from plants that are vigorous. They should have small, spear shaped leaves and about four feet high.
There is a corm at the bottom of each mature plantain tree. In transplanting a sucker, it is necessary to cut downwards and get as much corm and root as possible. Plant these and cut or decapitate the sucker to facilitate good evaporation. Keep around two to five meters between planted suckers. In the early days of your plant, keep them moist but not too wet as they don’t have leaves yet to evaporate the water. Plantain matures between 8 to 10 months. Cultivation spacing should be 1,000 to 1,200 plants per acre with planting distances of 6´x 6´ or 6´x 7´
Plantain and banana can be planted all year round. The recommendation is to plant from April to May. Fields without artificial irrigation can be planted from August to September. Plantain require 70´of rain (irrigation), well distributed throughout the year. Plantain and banana require areas free of weeds. Two methods of weed control are used in the plantations: mechanical (hoe, machete or machinery) and post emergent herbicides.
PREPARATION AS FOOD
Plantain may be eaten steamed, boiled, grilled, baked, or fried. It can also be turned into flour
NUTRITION
Plantain is 32% carbohydrates with 2% dietary fiber and 15% sugars, 1% protein, 0.4% fat, and 65% water, supplying 122 calories in a 100-gram serving (table). Raw plantain is an excellent source (20% or higher of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (23% DV) and vitamin C (22% DV), and a good source (10-19% DV) of magnesium and potassium. It Contains little beta-carotene (457 micrograms per 100 grams)
The major inputs for commercial SORGHUM farming are; LAND, IMPROVED GRAIN, TRAINING, FERTILIZER, DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL, FINANCE and MARKET.
LAND
Plantain can be grown successfully on loamy soil. Procuring Land for such commercial farming has to be done by professionals who have the eagle eye to decode the soil texture without much examination. It is also easier to source for land for agriculture through professionals because they have extensive network and can arrange Land for you in short notice and in a cost effective manner. There is little need to purchase land for farming in large scale from the beginning as this will tie down available capital, thus it is advisable to lease and subsequently pay for the land from the proceed of the farm. BUSINESS ADVISORY NETWORK is a guru in this regard and will help you arrange choice farm land at the best rate, all you have to do is to talk to us.
TRAINING
We will guide you on best planting season, spacing, fertilizer type, how to source fertilizer, fertilizer application. Weed control, Crops you may intercrop with PLANTAIN, the effects of intercropping on PLANTAIN yield, Storage and processing.
FINANCE
The central bank of Nigeria has a lot of incentives/ credits for commercial farmers at a reduced interest rate of 9% per annum. Most of these are organized by the central bank of Nigeria although accessed through the commercial bank. BAN will guide you on how to source credit under any of these credits listed below;
Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) The Fund guarantees credit facilities extended to farmers by banks up to 75% of the amount in default net of any security realized. The Fund is managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, through this guarantee it is easy For commercial banks to loan to farmers not fearing
Agricultural Credit Support Scheme (ACSS) ACSS funds are disbursed to farmers and agro-allied entrepreneurs at a single-digit interest rate of 8.0 percent. At the commencement of the project support, banks will grant loans to qualified applicants at 14.0 per cent interest rate. Applicants who pay back their facilities on schedule are to enjoy a rebate of 6.0 per cent, thus reducing the effective rate of interest to be paid by farmers to 8.0 per cent.
Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) This credit scheme is specifically targeted to finance the country’s agricultural value chain (production, processing, storage and marketing). The maximum interest rate to the borrower under the scheme shall not exceed 9 per cent, inclusive of all charges.
Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending ( NIRSAL) Risk is the single-most important factor that prevents banks from lending to agriculture. To change banks’ perception that agriculture is a high-risk sector, NIRSAL has a USD300 Million Risk-Sharing Facility that it uses to share their losses on agricultural loans through Credit Risk Guarantees. NIRSAL shares risk with banks ranging from 30% to 75% of face value depending on segment.
This also includes a guarantee fee of 1% per annum on outstanding protected principal and interest. Up to 40% of interest cost rebated to select value chain participants every 90 days if loan remains in good standing (no partial or full default). All crops, livestock and related supportive economic activity across the value chain are supported by this facility.
The news is that government is willing and doing everything to encourage farming in Nigeria because that’s where the country straight lies. Nigeria is endowed with arable land and fresh water resources when viewed as a whole with approximately 61 million hectares of the land cultivable while the total renewable water resources is about 280 km3/year; which include river Niger, river Benue, lake Chad, Osun river, Hadejia River, Bonny river and a host of others. The major soil types in Nigeria, according to FAO soil taxonomist are fluvisols, regosols, gleysols, acrisols, ferrasols, alisols, lixisols, cambisols, luvisols, nitosols, arenosols and vertisols. These soil types vary in their potential for agricultural use according to FAO.
Nigerian soils can be classified into groups made up of four (climatic) zones that are soil associations. The groups are:
- Northern zone of sandy soils
- Interior zone of laterite soils
- Southern belt of forest soils
- Alluvial soils Zones
Northern zone of sandy soils: This area lies in the very northern parts of the country. This area lies in the extreme north with proximity to the fringes of the fast- encroaching Sahara desert. It is characterized by soils formed by deposition of sand by the wind. These soils might have been formed from wind-sorted desert sands that accumulated over long periods of time when the Sahara desert encroached several kilometers south of its present limits. The soils of this zone are very good in the production of groundnut, sorghum, cowpea, and millet.
Interior zone of laterite soils: This zone is made up of a mixture of sand and clay. They are grey to black clay, poorly drained and seasonally flooded forming the “fadama”. The Biu Plateau has rich soil that is productive and offers prospects for the expansion of the areas of cotton production, soybeans, yam and other legumes.
Southern belt of forest soils: Soils in this zone broadly represent those of the humid, tropical forest climate zones of the south where the wet season is long, the harmattan season short and forest cover is dense. Local soil types depend largely on parent rock; where the underlying rocks are granite or clay, the soils is a rich clayey loam. These soils are very good in growing crops like cocoa, oil palm, rubber, Cassava.
Zone of alluvial soils: These soils are found along the flooded plains of rivers, deltas, along the coastal flats. This zone extends from the coastal inland and runs along the valleys of the Niger and the Benue rivers, thus cutting across the vegetational zones. Soils in this zone are characteristic of fresh-water soil of grey to white sand, grey clay and sandy clay with humid topsoil. Another group consists of brownish to black saline mangrove soils, with a mat of rootlets. This soil type is very good for rice etc.
FARM EQUIPMENT
BAN will also help in securing farming equipment. This may be achieved through the federal and state government partnership with the support of any of the credit schemes. Through this farm equipment can be acquired or leased.
MARKET
Demand for PLANTAIN is high both locally and internationally. Nigeria produce over 2.8million metric tons of plantain annually and they are all consumed locally. Demand is huge and hence a good venture for an eagle eyed investor. The good thing about selling locally is that you don’t have stress as payment is made easily and there is no documentation involved.
SECURITY
Security of the farm is of utmost importance, thus adequate security must be put in place to eliminate/ reduce pilferage in the farm.
PLANTAIN VALUE CHAIN
We will not only guide you on PLANTAIN farming. We will introduce you to PLANTAIN business value chain depending on your interest. Plantain flour is one area that is yearning for investment and return here is mouthwatering, we at BAN have articulated a proposal for this and will gladly share with an interested investor.
If you are desirous of farming with minimal discomfort and also wants to stay out of other losses that might result due to lack of planning talk to us at BAN.