In June 2014, three representatives of our team participated in training financed by the Regional Cooperation Fund (FCR) of the Prefecture of Mayotte, focusing on the increase in banana plant rejections. Our rural development manager Badroudine Ali describes the training, and how this learning will be applied in the Dahari intervention zone.
“Several varieties of bananas multiply mainly by vegetative propagation(1), in particular by separation of suckers(2). Each sucker can produce a banana plant. Plantain and dessert banana varieties are interesting varieties and are expensive to buy, especially during the month of Ramadan and holiday periods. For these varieties the capacity to produce suckers is generally low: during the life of the banana tree (10 to 14 months), we will only find 3 to 5 suckers. Thus, the possibilities for rapid intensification of cultivation are limited. Apart from this observation, producers often use planting material contaminated by worms such as nematodes and insects such as weevils. There is therefore a need to use new techniques to mass produce good quality waste in a short time.
It is for this reason that three representatives of our technical team left for Mayotte from June 4 to 6, 2014 to follow training organized by the Chamber of Agriculture, Fishing and Aquaculture of Mayotte as part of the Pilot project for the establishment of a production unit for healthy banana plants, on the site of the nursery farm La Flore de Mayotte, with funding from the FCR.
The objective was to transfer multiplication techniques to private nursery growers in Mayotte and Anjouan to respond, in the two territories, to the strong demand for suckers of banana varieties in quantity, regularity and diversity, from the farmers of the two islands. The aim of the training was also to discuss between technicians on the rapid production of healthy banana plants.
During the training, different multiplication techniques were discussed, in particular the PIF method which is at the heart of the training because this is what will be practiced in Anjouan. Enriched by this training, our Dahari technical team, with this experience, is ready to relaunch its banana plant germinations in Anjouan in partnership with the sites of other nursery growers from the Bahati Ya Walimizi association of SNAC who have also followed this training.
Upon returning from the training, initially, the Dahari technicians were trained on the technique. Then, at our CRDE Domoni site, the first germinator was filled and the rejects began to come out. On the Mpagé agricultural support site, the germination plant is in the filling phase. This training made it possible to highlight the PIF technique, which makes it possible to exploit most of the plant's buds. A banana tree that only produces 3 to 5 shoots actually has the potential for more than ten buds.
This technique will particularly contribute to the development of Anjouan, because it helps to fight against weevils, it will make it possible to increase the production of banana trees, and it can be applied to other varieties.”
1. Vegetative reproduction: asexual reproduction which takes place from a plant organ (stem, bud or leaf)
2. Sucker: Plant growing from another by asexual reproduction
