Bananas are widely grown in Kenya as a staple food and as an income generating activity by many local communities.
Due to a widespread problem of viral diseases, in vitro or tissue culture bananas propagation has been used by Kenyan researchers to produce disease free growing materials.
These plants are genetically uniform, superior, disease free and high yielding. This leads to increased economic benefits per unit area of land.
Bananas grow well in a wide range of climate from sea level up to 1800m in humid conditions. Minimum rainfall of 1000mm per year is required especially at the flowering time.
Irrigation is therefore essential in low rainfall growing areas. Bananas should be grown on well drained fertile soils, as they cannot withstand water logging.
Thorough land preparation should be done during the dry season. Sowing should be carried out at the beginning of the long rains for rain fed crop in Kenya. Dig holes measuring 1M× 1M× 1M and separate the top and subsoils, then mix the top soil with 40kg [2medium buckets] of well rotted manure per planting hole, 200g DAP fertilizer, 15 grams / 3 teaspoonfuls of nematicide.
Fill the hole with the mixture up to 75cm.Plant the seedling 30cm deep into the mixture and firm up the soil.
Recommended planting spacing is 3M× 3M for short varieties, 3M × 4M for medium varieties and 4M× 4M for tall varieties. For irrigated crop apply 40 litres of water at planting time, then 20 litres 3 times weekly.
Apply dry grass mulches for moisture retention and to increase soil organic matter.
Ensure a clear space of 15cm from the base of the plant as a precaution against the bananas weevil.
Inter-cropping with leguminous crops such as beans can be done. Sucker management is done by thinning to produce large bunches and increase yields.
Thinning is done to leave one bearing stem, one half grown stem and one emerging sword sucker. Vigorously growing sword sucker facing the eastern side should be selected at any one given time.
Destroy unwanted suckers using a knife. Stems bearing heavy bunches of bananas should be supported to avoid breakages and this practice is referred to as staking.
De-leafing should be done to remove old diseased leaves from the plant for good growth. The first harvest starts 15-18 months after planting. When the fruit is fully developed it is light green in colour and shiny in appearance.
Harvest bunches with care to avoid bruising. For temporary storage keep bunches in a cool storage. When transporting to local markets wrap the bundles in grass or bananas leaves to avoid bruising.
De-handing, de-clustering, washing using disinfectant, packaging and branding may be required for export market. Yields of 20-40 tons per year may be attained depending on management.
The major pests include bananas weevil,thrips and nematodes. The major diseases in growing of bananas include panama disease,sigatoka,Fusarium wilt,bunchy top disease, banana streak and cigar end rot. Control pests and diseases of the plant using suitable measures.
In order to advance in agriculture and economic development in Kenya, one has to adopt farming technologies in Kenya that give advantage to farmers by providing planting materials free of disease, mature fast, better yield and safe for human consumption.
One of the ways is through farming tissue culture bananas in Kenya which grow faster and give increased yields compared to the traditional species of bananas in Kenya.
Tissue culture in Kenya is a technique of generating plants from roots, leaves or stems in sterilized conditions and can be produced in abundant numbers. Tissue Culture is available for distribution to farmers in Kenya at household and commercial levels.
Tissue culture in Kenya is also beneficial in helping plants such as Bananas in Kenya which do not produce seeds to reproduce.Due to prevalent viral diseases affecting farming in Kenya, tissue culture has been used by Kenyan researchers to yield disease resistant growing materials.
The cultured plants in Kenya are uniform genetically, free from disease and high yielding. This contributes to improved economic benefits per unit area of land through use of tissue cultured plants for farming in Kenya.
How Tissue cultured bananas are developed in Kenya after generating under sterile conditions, new banana plantlets shoot; they are reared in a laboratory for some weeks before being transferred hardening in a green house.
Two months after and at a height of several centimeters, the banana plantlets in Kenya are ready for the farm.
In comparison with the predictable use of banana suckers in Kenya, tissue culture in Kenya speeds up the multiplication process dramatically.
In Kenya, about 2,000 healthy banana plantlets are produced from a single shoot of tissue culture
practice compared to ten suckers from a single banana plant in Kenya within six months.
Tissue culture banana in Kenya produces faster and fruits within 340 days compared to 420 days for conventional bananas in Kenya.
For temporary storage of bananas in Kenya, keep bunches in a cool dry place and when transporting them to local markets you should carefully wrap in grass or bananas leaves to avoid bruising.
For the export market of bananas in Kenya, one my be required to do de-clustering, wash using disinfectant, dehandle, package and brand the bananas.
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