WHAT IS PLANTAIN FARMING?

Plantain farming is simply the growing of Plantain for commercial or consumption purpose.

For the sake of this article, we shall be focusing on the commercial purpose of farming plantain.

WHO CAN FARM PLANTAIN

Anybody that has land in an environment with the right climatic conditions can farm Plantain. Plantain does not perform well in very hot environment.

The soil condition can always be improved upon by the right application of soil additives.

IS THERE MARKET FOR PLANTAIN?

The demand for plantain is very massive and growing on a year to year basis.

In Nigeria, the population currently stands at a little over 200million persons. And daily, 20,000 children are born (according to UNICEF). This ever-increasing population require food as one of their basic survival needs. Hence, the high and ever-increasing demand for food of which Plantain is one of them.

Secondly, the population of diabetics in Nigeria is on the increase. According to WHO in 2015, the population of diabetics is about 3% and the value is increasing yearly by 0.3%. Globally the problem is very prevalent and Plantain has been identified as one of the best food for diabetics due to its low Glycemic index. The misconception that Wheat was healthy for diabetics was a major health disaster but with the recent discovery that wheat is not healthy but plantain is, has further increased the demand for plantain and pushed up the market value.

Between late March and August every year, the demand usually soars and price most times doubles due to scarcity. This is a constant and smart farmers usually pounce on this intelligence to rake in money. People come from far and near this period (March – August) looking for Plantain.

WHY SHOULD YOU FARM PLANTAIN

1. Easy to Manage

Plantain is very easy to manage. It does not require too much of your time. A full time worker, Business man, Pastor, Iman or whatever endeavor you are into, can do plantain farming without involving so much of your time.

2. You Plant Once

You only need to plant plantain once. After that, it is continuous harvest from year to year as the Plantain tree will keep producing suckers to replace the outgoing generation. You can also generate a lot of revenue from the suckers.

3. Ready Market

The huge demand for plantain makes the selling of your produce easy. In Rivers State, Bole women and some other market women come into the farms looking for plantain fruits to purchase.

TRAPS TO AVOID

In setting up your plantain farm, avoid the following traps

1. Inadequate Knowledge

If you lack the needed knowledge on how to care for your plantain farm, get a mentor to guide you. A mentor is someone that is farming Plantain successfully. Not someone that claims to be farming plantain but is just an internet farmer. We have a detailed manual for plantain farm management.

2. The Wrong Species

In my experience, a lot of unsuspecting intending farmers fall prey to big name species but end up buying local and non-performing species from internet farmers. These people parade all manner of pictures of plantain but don’t own farms. Be very careful so you don’t fall victim. We have the Cameroun Specie called Ebak Ebanga, Mboroukou3, Batard and the Nigerian specie called Giant Elephant.

3. The Wrong Climate

One very critical factor to the success of your plantain farm is the right climate. If your land is in very hot areas with little rainfall, then a lot of effort must be put in to make your plantain farming business a success.

FEASIBILITY STUDY ON PLANTAIN FARMING

This study is updated because certain factors have changed due to changes in some economic indices like inflation.

This study is on one acre of land. Which is 6 plots of 100ft x 50ft size.

SET UP COST

For the sake of this study I will not consider the cost of acquiring land and preparing the land because it varies from location to location.

The following are the cost to consider

a). Cost of buying suckers: The cost is #150 per sucker for treated and high performing species. One acre will accommodate 800 suckers at a spacing of 2m x 2m.

Cost of suckers = #150 x 800 = #120,000

b). Cost of Pegging and Planting: This cost is avoidable if you and your family members can handle. You can also hire professionals to do it applying the best practices. For the sake of this article, we will peg it at #100.

Cost of pegging and planting = #100 x 800 = #80,000

c). Logistics cost: This depends on the distance from where you are getting your suckers to where you are planting. For the sake of this report, we say #25,000

d). Manure cost: In order the quicken the growth process, a little bit of manure is needed. Poultry manure can serve perfectly. A bag is sold for #300. You will need 10 bags to plant 800 suckers.

Cost = #300 x 800 = #3,000.

Total Setup Cost = #120,000 + #80,000 + #25,000 + #3,000 = #228,000

If you plant the right specie that is properly treated against Nematode and fungi attack. Specie that is drought resistant, then you will not have any mortality. All will grow very well and in 8 months, they will start fruiting and harvest will be in the 10th month after planting.

MAINTENANCE COST

HERBICIDE

The cost of maintaining plantain farm is minimal. Basically, you manure, prune and weed.

As soon as the plantain reaches 1m in height, you start using herbicides. This will reduce your maintenance cost without any negative effect on the plants.

During the peak of the rainy season, you apply the herbicide more often. For one acre, you will need 3 bottles to properly tackle the weed per time. Application will be done like 5 times in one year. That is a total of 15 bottles.

A bottle of the herbicide is sold for #1,500 depending on your location and the product.

Cost of Herbicides = #1500 x 15 = #22,500

The spraying of the herbicide can be done by you so as to minimize cost.

MANURE

Plantain are very high consumers of nutrient. It is advisable to provide manure to the plants regularly to support their growth. You can either use organic manure or apply fertilizer.

Pig manure or cow dung are heavy and last longer while poultry manure act faster but doesn’t last long. Care must be taken in the application as wrong application can kill the plants. (manure application techniques are explained in our plantain farm management manual).

Using Pig manure, you can get 100 bags to cover one acre. Each bag is sold for #200.

Cost of manure = #200 x 100 = #20,000

This can be done by you and your family members.

Total Maintenance Cost = Herbicide cost + Manure Cost = #22,500 + #20,000 = #42,500

Total Setup and Maintenance Cost = #228,000 + #42,500 = #270,500

REVENUE/RETURNS

The returns from plantain are in two folds if you properly take care of your farm. You will get a lot of suckers and hefty plantain bunches.

1. Returns from Suckers

Each plantain tree can produce as much as 15 suckers. You can decide to sell 12 from each tree which means you will have 9,600 (12 x 800) suckers available for sale.

If you sell each for #150, then the return from suckers = #150 x 9,600 = # 1,440,000.00

2. Returns from Plantain fruits

The plantain bunches from good species that are properly taken care of are hefty. The minimum price irrespective of the season is #1,500.

The return therefore = #1500 x 800 = #1,200,000.00

The projected total returns in one cycle = #1,440,000 + #1,200,000 = #2,640,000.00

Profit = #2,640,000 - #270,500 = #2,369,500.00

So, for those asking if Plantain farming is profitable, my answer is yes and you can see that with this study. Again, you can become a millionaire farming plantain as you can also see from the analysis. But the point still remains that you must maintain your farm appropriately.

Plantain farming is like fine wine. It gets better with time. The second generation profit will double the first generation profit meanwhile you wont have to spend on buying suckers and planting anymore unless you are expanding

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