Plantain farming is a very profitable Agricultural business but not without its own challenges. In this article, you‘ll learn the challenges of Plantain Farming in Nigeria. You’ll get know what you have not known or hear before in plantain farming business. It is very important you understand the challenges involved in plantain farming when making decision to embark on plantain farming.
Challenges of Plantain Farming in Nigeria
Some of the challenges of plantain farming in Nigeria and many parts of the Africa include:
- Inadequate land
One of the major problems of plantain farming is the unavailability of Land used for plantain cultivation. Land used for plantain farming are reserved farm land; such land are not to be touch for 4 – 10 years.
- Plantain diseases
Most plantain diseases can only be prevented and cannot be controlled. The plantain disease which is ravaging some parts of Ogun state now is the bunchy top disease. Ogun state is a very risky location for plantain top bunchy virus disease, some areas should be stay clear of or you use a good suckers for plantain farming
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- Bad Plantain suckers
Making use of good suckers in plantain farming is very important and this can either make or mar your plantain business venture. Bunchy virus disease is spread by the use of the traditional suckers. So, next time you are using the traditional suckers, you might have to think twice because the disease can be transfer to the farm. The traditional suckers produce low yield, and susceptible to disease. The Hybrid cultured Suckers are best and one hybrid culture sucker cost ₦100.00.
See the Advantage of using good suckers
On 1 acre of land using hybrid cultured suckers
1000 suckers produces 1000 bunches
selling at N800-N1200/bunch
Revenue = N800k
On 1 acre of land using traditional suckers
1000 suckers produces 200 bunches
selling at N800-N1,200 per bunch
Revenue= N200k
You need a good suckers for your plantain to perform well which are not readily available.
With the use of tissue cultured suckers, If you plant 1000suckers, you can be sure that you will have 100% survival rate with uniform growth and you can also harvest all at the same time.
One of the advantages of using the tissue cultured is that you have diseased free farms- your farm can be secured from the Ravaging bunchy top virus disease if you make use of this sucker especially in ogun state where the disease is now being transmitted on daily basis
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- Non-uniformity of plantain growth
One of challenges faced by plantain farmers is non-uniform growth of plantain which is caused by bad suckers but with the use of hybrid tissue cultured suckers, you can be assured of uniform growth. If you have uniform growth of your plantain, they will also have uniform fruiting, (they will produce fruits at the same time and you can harvest all at the same time.
You will never have uniform growth making use of the other suckers and they will not fruit at the same time.
- Financial Constraints – these include;
- High cost of transportation – High cost of transportation is another factor affecting plantain plantation in Nigeria. Hybrid tissue cultured suckers are not readily available in different locality and cost of transporting these suckers is very high.
- High cost of breeding
- High cost of acquiring land.
- Marketing of harvested plantain
Marketing is very important in making any agribusiness profitable. Poor marketing and Price fluctuation can adversely pose a challenge Plantain farming.
In conclusion, these and many more are the major challenges of plantain farming in Nigeria.