Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

356 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 2
disease is not present. Nematodes (Radopholus similis, Pratylenchus spp.) and weevils
(Cosmopolites sordidus), cause severe damage to production. Weeds are a major
problem especially Chromolaena odorata a particularly noxious weed found in
practically all the countries in the sub-region. Farmers are unable to weed the four to six
times (Hemeng et al. 1996) required for good growth and yield of plantain.
In this system of production, no inorganic fertilisers are applied. Plantain and the
other food crops depend on the low level of nutrients inherent in the soils. Furthermore,
because of scarcity of land, farmers are unable to practise the long duration fallows (>20
years) necessary to build up soil fertility especially of organic matter.
For lack of clean planting material, farmers are obliged to plant contaminated
suckers collected from old plantations. Removing suckers from new plantings which have
less pest and diseases damage the mother corm and affects the stability thus the
development and production of the stool. The development and yield of an infested
sucker is compromised right from the time of planting.
A variant of the mixed cropping system of production is the use of plantain as nursery
crop for cocoa, coffee, rubber and oil palm, the dominant export crops in the humid low
lands of West and Central Africa. During the establishment phase, plantain provides
shade to the young trees while protecting the soil from excessive evapotranspiration and
erosion. The farmer obtains some food and income from the plantain before tree crop is
ready to be exploited. When the trees are established 2-3 years after transplanting,
plantain cultivation is discontinued.
Homegardens
In the search for suitable forestland to cultivate the crop, farmers have moved quite far
away from their homestead and villages. Transporting the heavy bunches from distant
farms to the village or roadsides is arduous. Also, away from the watchful eyes of the
owners, theft of bunches in the distant fields especially during the lean season, when
other food stuffs are scare but plantain is at peak production, is very common. For these
reasons, production in gardens around the homestead is becoming increasingly important
as a source of plantain.
Whereas the objective is still for subsistence, management of the plantains is quite
different. In home gardens, plantain is planted as part of a multistrata system
comprising fruit and other trees of economic value at the uppermost stratum and other
food crops below the plantains. Despite competition from the intercrops, plantain yields
from homegardens are high as the crop benefits from the application of large doses of
household refuse which is high in organic matter (Yao 1988) and mineral-rich kitchen
ashes. The yield of the well-manured and adequately watered plantains in this system is
high and stable for up to 20 years despite the presence of the usual Musa pests and
diseases.
This same system is practised in backyards and in open spaces in urban and periurban
centres in West and Central Africa. As in homegardens in the rural areas, these
plantains also produce heavy bunches because of the large inputs of household refuse.