Natural History and the Urban 'Banana' Plantation

NATURAL HISTORY AND THE URBAN ‘BANANA’ PLANTATION

A Banana Production Manual:

A Guide to successful banana production and the banana’s importance.

THE BANANA TIMELINE

BANANA PLANTATION PRODUCTION

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1. Sword sucker 2. Water Sucker 3. Maiden Sucker with top cut off 4. Tissue Culture plantlet

5. Bullhead with Sword sucker attached 6. Bullhead section 7. Growing point (eye) 8. Aerial view of Bullhead

Sword suckers, maiden suckers and tissue culture plantlets are the ones most recommended currently. Avoid water suckers(field suckers with broad leaves)shown in figure 2

BANANA PLANTING MATERIAL

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1. A corm from a maiden plant. , the maiden sucker may be cut at about 15 corn above the corm - pseudostem joint to reduce bulk 2. Sword suckers should not be cut back 3. All roots and the outer layer of the corm and old leaf sheaths should be peeled off. Try to remove all tunnels and reddish-brown or black tissues 4. Corm too infested to use. If the tunnels go deep into the corm, then such a sucker should be discarded for it may be carrying weevil larvae banana pests inside the tunnels

As an additional treatment, pared suckers can be dipped in hot water at a temperature between 52°C and 55°C for 20 minutes or in a pesticide solution to kill the deeply embedded pests

PREPARATION OF PLANTING MATERIAL

1. Bare soil 2. Fertiliser spread in the ring 3. Mulch usually made from plant residues and elephant grass The sucker is placed in the hole and its corm is covered, first with the topsoil, mixed with manure and then topped up with the subsoil.

If the land is sloping, the sucker should be so oriented that the future ratoon emerges against the slope. This will delay development of high mat.

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The Banana plant’s average height is 3.5m.

They need usually need tropical temperatures of about 23- 30 degrees. The plants are spaced out for protection from winds and too much shade from neigbouring plants leaves by 2.5Ă— 3m,

Mulching reduces the amount of weeds in a plantation by choking the established weeds and denying light to those that require it for germination.

Mulching sometimes provides good homes for pests such as the banana weevil. Mulches should therefore be placed away from the base of the mat so as to reduce the population of weevils that may get in contact with the plants. The recommended distance is 50 cm from the mat.

PLANTING AND MULCHING

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1. Banana Fibre Rope 2. Wooden pole These systems help the heavy banana plant from falling during winds

SUPPORTING OF BEARING PLANTS

A cut should be made with a panga in the pseudostem (trunk) which allows the bunch to descend slowly under its own weight or with the help of a tug on the lower end of the bunch stalk. For local market fruit, the upper end of the stalk above the fruit should be sliced through whilst holding the lower end up The bunch will then fall through 180 degrees and land balanced on the thick end of the stalk, with no damage to fruit.

De-handing and drying of latex for export fruit.

The trader usually packs export fruit into cardboard boxed in the field. Matooke types are packed 9-10 kgs per box and Ndiizi 6 kgs. Bogoya is not usually exported. The fruit must be handled and packed carefully to avoid scratching and bruising.

HARVESTING

Banana (Matooke) and Groundnuts paste with peas

Matooke, chicken curry and Chapati

Fried Plantain/Matooke

Matooke and Chicken sauce with millet

Matooke pancakes

EAST AFRICAN BANANA RECIPES

The first process is peeling the Bananas with a knife usually done while seating down.

Strips and chunks cut from the banana tree stem or cluster stem are used as a foundation at the bottom of the cooking pan so as to minimize water getting into the bundle of the Matooke

Banana bark is assembled in a bowl crosswise, and few banana leaves placed on top

The dressed Matooke is placed in a pan, and then covered with more banana leaves to give the food a delicious flavour during steaming. It is then pressed when soft

Peeled Matooke fingers are placed into the bowl with the banana leaves and bark

Served on Banana leaves with different sauces for example. Fish, ground nuts and chicken

Matooke comes from the family of bananas known as the East African Highland bananas.

Matooke is used mainly for cooking when they are green and unripe. Cooked and mashed matooke is the national dish of Uganda.

BANANA/MATOOKE/PLANTAIN PREPARATION

Pombe (pombé or phombe): Pombe is Swahili for “beer”, and in this case is a type of traditional East African millet beer (Mainly Ugandan) made from banana, sorghum, bran, corn, and sugar.

Waganda brewing Pombe, Illustration by explorer John Speke in the book Journey to the discovery of the source of the Nile

Mbege: Traditional fruit brew of the Chagga people of Tanzania, this sweet and sour beer’s not so secret ingredient is banana.

When brewing mbege, first bananas are mashed up and cooked in a pot for six hours, cooled, and left out to spontaneously ferment in the open for seven days. The now alcoholic banana juice is strained and combined with finger millet flour and bittered with quinine bark flour from the msesewe tree. This mixture is then left out to re-ferment for another day before serving.

TRADITIONAL EAST AFRICAN BANANA BEERS

Bananas laid out on banana leaves and fibre.

Women brewing masters start singing

Get in the canoe and smash the bananas by foot, similar to the process of pressing grapes (first, the ladies wash the man’s feet).

Dig deep hole in the ground, line with banana leaves, fill with bananas, cover with banana leaves and let it sit for two days to ripen

Peel bananas and place in a canoe, cover with grass.

Grind roasted sorghum on a stone.

Add sorghum to the canoe and use a pole to churn the mixture.

The community participates in the banana beer making process.

Women prepare the bananas and sorghum; men press the juice.

Everyone enjoys drinking it!

Put canoe in the ground, cover with banana leaves, and let sit overnight to ferment.

UGANDAN TRADITIONAL BEER MAKING CEREMONY Masheruka banana plantation

Panchamrutham - India Banana, dates,raisins, honey and jaggery

Fattah Moz - Yemen Bread mix, mashed banana and honey

Chuoi Nuong- Vietnam Grilled raw banana, banana leaf and spouse the oil of green onion

Cekodok Pisang - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt, mashed ripe Bananas,Vanilla Essence

Banana fritters- Jamaica ripe bananas, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, full purpose flour and oil for frying

BANANA RECIPES AROUND THE WORLD

SOURCES USED https://vietnamembassy-mongolia.org/ http://foodquestions.com/what-are-some-popular-banana-recipes-from-around-the-world/ http://www.chicamod.com/2011/06/01/preparing-matooke-the-staple-food-of-buganda-uganda/ https://www.miss-crumbs-a-lot.com/blog/cekodok-pisang-fried-banana-balls http://www.naads.or.ug/publication/view/banana-production-guide/ https://www.africa-uganda-business-travel-guide.com/plantain-matooke-recipes-in-uganda.html Figures accessed and rendered from: https://www.academia.edu/32769121/BANANA_PRODUCTION