How can I best grow bananas in northern Uganda?
Dear Charles Jambo,
Before thinking of starting banana farming in northern Uganda, it is important to note the following.
•It lies with the semi-arid part of Uganda where the importance of banana is not well appreciated. So it is not a traditionally banana growing place. Most of the land has been under fallow for long. There is a lot of massive quantities of grass biomass suitable mulching and the proximity to market. So for every farmer to grow bananas well, the key agronomic practices would be;
•Select seeds that matures quickly with high yields and highly marketable.
•Land clearing and preparation. Taking advantage of massive grass for mulching the plantations later.
•You may not use tractor to open the land to be able to reduce the cost of production. Instead herbicides would be used in combination with mulching to suppress the weeds.
•Use optimum spacing of 3m X 3m to reduce drying of the top soil but also dig larger to capture large volumes of water since northern Uganda is dry. Preferably 90cm Length X 90 width X 60cm depth.
•Prepare to start with organic fertilisers, especially well decomposed cow dung, it is the best, at least two basins per hole. The more manure the better.
•Prepare to harvest rain water in to the field using trenches.
•Prepare to mulch heavily, the thicker the mulch, the more the water is conserved in the soil.
•Control plant density like three to five plants per mat (stool). The more the plants, the smaller the bunches yet the less the plants the more the bunches. It is important to balance density with yield which depends on the amount of water and fertilisers in the field.
•Also be careful to retain all the green leaves on the plants. Cut the green leaves but only remove the dead trash. This is important because the size of the bunch depends on three things namely; quantity and health of roots, quantity and health of leaves and size of Pseudostem; the bigger the pseudostem the bigger the bunch.
•Remember to remove off the male buds as this improves the size of the bunch.
•Support or prop all the fruited plants with stakes to avoid losing the bunches.
•Destroy all the after harvests by chopping to small pieces all the pseudostems and corms as these serve as breeding sites for the banana weevil which is the key pest for bananas.
•Continue to apply fertilisers and mulch as enhancing nutrition helps to manage leaf spot disease like black Sigatoka.
•For other systemic diseases like fusarium wilt which is soil -borne fungal pathogen affecting bogoya, sukali ndizi and Musa (Kayinja), plus BBW mentioned, use the same strategy as indicated above.
Good agriculture means being able to draw a distinction between digging and farming. Farming means doing agriculture as a business. This means putting profitability above all and avoiding unnecessary costs.
Answered by Asher Wilson Okurut, crop agronomist, Banana Research Programme, NARL Kawanda
Why is it that when you use pellets to feed chicken then change, they lose weight?
Pellet feeds have best ingredients due to the high nutritional value they have. However, pallets are best for broilers since their mechanism is to convert feeds into meat. With pellets, birds feed and grow faster.
Pellets are easily digested as compared to mash that it eaten at a slower pace thus slowing down digestion and retarding the weight gain. There is increased feed intake and subsequent live weight gain that is suitable for the market when birds are fed on pellets in which the birds consume a whole some ingredient in the entire component.
However, most of the feeds on the market come mixed yet chickens are picky eaters. Because they don’t like the protein source in these feeds, they instead revert to tossing it on the ground thus losing weight over the time.
The quality of the other poultry feeds in crumble form on market is compromised by the business man to maximise profit.
Since pellets are quite expensive, it would be better to at least feed the birds on pallets for the first four months then switch to other feeds. It will be hard for the birds to lose weight as it is when other feeds are introduces at an early stage. This question was posted in a Poultry Farmers’ Cooperative Whatsapp group
What do you need to know before setting up a goat farm?
Goats in general are very social, curious, gentle, independent and intelligent creatures. Think of getting more than one goat (a buck and doe) to avoid boredom. The bucks are males while and does are females.
•You need to have a big land where they can graze
•You need good fencing before you get the goats because they like running, climbing and jumping.
•Then think of the purpose of the farm, whether to rear milk or beef goats. This is to enable you get good breeds.
•Goats hate to get wet, they do not do well in wet or swampy areas, meaning you will need to get them an ample dry shelter and dry paddocks or pasture.
•Goats are very clean eaters. They do not eat tin cans and do not like to eat any food that has been soiled, contaminated or has been on the ground. Goats also eat a lot, so plan for a sufficient budget to feed them before you bring them onto your farm.
•In case you are going to have bucks and milkers on the farm, make sure they do not pasture together because the bucks’ smell will make the milk taste bad. Bucks are stinky and sticky.
•Record management is very important because it helps you know how many goats you have at the farm, how many have died, among other things.
I would advise you to visit a goat farm to help you learn more.
It will help you be well conversant before introducing them to the farm.
Answered by Moses Bugyendo, an agriculturist and a veterinary doctor.
How can one control banana bacterial wilt
Banana Bacterial Wilt (BBW) is a disease transmitted through infected plant materials, contaminated farm tools and insects like bees. Therefore, the control measures include the following:
• Avoid transfer of infected planting materials or plant parts from places of infection to clean areas. Ensure that the materials used for planting are clean and safe. This can be done by using clean tissue culture plantlets, or using clean suckers obtained from clean mother gardens originally established using clean planting materials. It is also important to note that planting materials will remain clean only if planted in clean environment. Therefore, the field where the planting is to be done must not have bacterial infection.
• Break off the male buds (mpumumpu) immediately after the last cluster (ekinsubi) has been formed. Note that the male bud must be broken off using a forked stick but not cutting it off with sharp objects which might transfer the disease from one plant to another through the sap on them.
• Cut and chop all infected plants. Note that only infected plants should be rouged off (single stem removal). Do not uproot the entire mat (ekikolo) just because one or two plants have been sighted to be infected. Allow the chopped pieces to dry and rot. The bacteria will die and the infection will disappear within three months.
• Disinfect all tools that were used on the plant. Using JIK detergent at a ratio of 1:5 or flaming. It is important to note that bacteria can stay on any infected tool on stored tools for up to seven days.
However, in cases where the disease has been observed, it is important to suspend use of sharp tools for a period of three months. This helps stop spreading the disease from plants that are sick but have not yet showed symptoms.
But even with above package in place, every member in the community must be empowered to own the disease. There is evidence that communities that have greater awareness of the disease including causes, symptoms, transmission and control mechanisms are in better position to manage the disease.
Such successful communities are been able to organise themselves into Task Forces or disease control platforms with efficient mechanisms of monitoring disease progress and also copping with defaulters in including fines and being presented to courts of Law. This means that the legal structures must be put in place. A successful disease control package would include an integrated use of all the above including enhanced nutrition.
Answered by Asher Wilson Okurut, crop agronomist, Banana Research Programme, NARL Kawanda
