Assessment of Cultural Conditions for Banana and Plantains in the Territories of Maniema, D.R.C.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the growing conditions (source of planting materials, age of the banana plantations and the cropping system) of banana and plantain trees in the seven territories of the Province of Maniema in the DRC. We started from a sample of 63 farmers practicing banana cultivation in the study area. A total of 7 territories for the entire Province with 3 villages per territory, 3 fields per village, were involved. The results obtained showed that: the growing conditions vary relatively depending on the territories of this Province where 100% of banana trees are grown in association with rice, cassava, corn or other crops; 95.24% of farmers use shoots from neighboring fields; 90.48% use suckers from plantations located far from their areas and 52.38% of farmers use suckers from the same plantation. On average 42.86% of banana plantations are over 10 years old; 38.10% of banana plantations are 5-7 years old and 14.29% banana plantations are 3-5 years old. We recommend that farmers use suckers from their own fields to avoid disease infections, take good care of the crop for good production, and, the political authorities and their partners in this matter come to the rescue of this culture.