Banana Farming

Banana is one of the most common and widely grown fruit crops in the Philippines. It is also one of the country's major dollar earners, and has consistently ranked next to coconut oil and prawns in terms of value earnings during the last five years. In 1991, banana topped local production among the other major fruits such as pineapple and mango, thus eating up more than one-third of the production pie. Banana has various uses. The ripe fruit is pureed, candied, and preserved in various forms when not eaten fresh. Its extract is used in the manufacture of catsup, vinegar, and wine. The unripe fruit is powdered and chipped. In rural areas, the young leaves are pounded to suppress bleeding and treat wounds. The leaves are also widely used as packing materials for fruits and vegetables in market centers. Banana fiber is manufactured into rope, sack, and mat. Sheets of paper and paper boards are also made from banana peel. Banana blossom is exported dried. Filipino housewives use it in special dishes.

VARIETY 

Banana is native to Southeast Asia where the climate is warm and humid. Of the 57 banana cultivars, the following are the most common in the Philippines: 

1. Saba grows to as tall as 20 feet; fruit is angular; has thick peel that is green when unripe, yellow when ripe; flesh is white when ripe; gestation period is 15 to 16 months. 

2. Lacatan grows to a height of five to nine feet; fruit is round, seedless; has thick peel that has green when unripe, yellow-orange when ripe; gestation period is 14 to 15 months. 

3. Latundan grows from six to 10 feet tall; fruit is round; has thin peel that is green when unripe, yellow when ripe; flesh is white when ripe; gestation period is 12 months. 

4. Bungulan fruit is round, very sweet, seedless and easily rots; has thick peel that is green when unripe and remains green when ripe; flesh is white when ripe; gestation period is 12 months. 

5. Cavendish reaches five to 10 feet high; fruit is bigger than Bungulan; peel is green when unripe, yellow when ripe; flesh is yellow when ripe; export quality; gestation period is six to eight months. Other varieties grown in the country include the Morado, Pitogo Los Banos, Senorita, Tindok, Gloria, Granda, and Tumok. 

CLIMATE AND SOIL REQUIREMENTS 

 Banana is well adapted to well-drained, loamy, soil that is rich in organic matter. Areas with an average rainfall of 4000 millimeters (mm) a year are ideal sites for a banana plantation. A temperature between 27 to 30 degrees Celsius is most favorable to the crop. Banana grows at sea level up to 1,800 meters altitude. It is susceptible to root rot when exposed to too much water. Typhoon belt do not make good plantation sites. 

PROPAGATION 

Banana can be propagated through its rhizomes and suckers. The latter, however, is the best recommended. Suckers must be parasites-free and have healthy roots. These are spaded out of the clumps when four-to-five feet tall. 

LAND PREPARATION 

 The fields is plowed and harrowed thrice. All stumps and bushes must be removed. Knee-deep holes with 45-cm diameters are dug and 3each hole is fertilized with 10 grams of complete fertilizer and a few of granular nematode. 

PLANTING 

 Suckers are set on field in vertical position, then covered with surface soil. Compost material added to the soil enhances the recovery and growth of the new plants. The soil is stumped around each base and watered regularly. During dry months, irrigation, if possible, is advised.Planting is the best at the start of the rainy season. 

CULTIVATION AND MAINTENANCE 

Cultivation should go beyond six inches from the base of the plant to avoid root injury. Intercrops or Glamoxine or Karmex sprays act as weed control. Plants must be propped with bamboo poles during fruiting for support against strong winds. 

DESUCKERING OR PRUNING 

 Unnecessary suckers must be killed by cutting them off the mother plants. Only one or two suckers must be allowed per hill to reduce soil nutrients competition. 

FERTILIZATION 

For poor soils, fertilizers should contain N-P-K at a ratio of 3-1-6. the ratio is doubled when fertilizers are applied to young plants. The amount of fertilizer applied increases as the tree matures. At flowering and fruiting period, a tree needs five to six pounds of complete fertilizer. 

PEST AND DISEASES 

There are at least 27 insect pests that attack banana plants in the Philippines. However, there are only three pests known to cost significant damage over all types of banana. The banana corm weevil feeds on suckers and destroys the corm tissues. It causes the suckers to die of bore attack. To control this pest, spray the soil with Furadan 5 G, 10 G. Sanitation and cutting of affected corms are also effective cultural controls, and are environment friendly. Fruit-peel sarring beetle damages the fruit surfaces. The banana bunch is usually sprayed with Decis to control infestation. The banana floral thrips can be easily controlled by Diazinon 40/60 EC or Decis 2.5. 100 EC spray. The three major diseases of banana are the sigatoka, pitting or wilting and the moko. Sigatoka is a leaf spot disease caused by Mycosphaerella musicola. This causes the premature death of leaves. In severe cases, the size of bunches and fingers is reduced. The fruit is also ripens prematurely and develops abnormal flavor and smell. Plants are usually sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. Badly spotted leaves are removed to avoid contamination. Pitting or Wilting disease is characterized by dry, reddish-brown or black, circular or oval, depressed spots. Sanitation is one way of preventing the disease which comes in season with the rainy days. All collapsed leaves should be removed. Moko disease, on the other hand, transmitted from plat to plant by insects and infected tools. The impact ok moko to plants is similar to that of the sigatoka. Only, it does not emit unfavorable smell. Infected fruits also blacken inside. Infection is prevented by disinfecting tools with formaldehyde. In view of environmental considerations, alternative controls to pests and diseases are being introduced under Integrated Pest Management. Infected plants and weeds must be uprooted to keep the area free of host plats for six to 12 months. 

HARVESTING 

Regardless of variety, the maturity of banana can be distinguished when the last leaf turns yellow. The angle formation of the fingers also determines ripeness. The rounder the angle of the fingers, the more mature the are. Saba is harvest 15 to 16 months after planting; Lacatan, 4 to 15 months; Latundan, 12 months; Bungulan, 12 months; Cavendish, six to eight months. Harvesting needs two people to serve as the cutter and the backer. It involves cutting deep into the middle of the trunk and letting the top fall gradually until the bunch is at the reach if the backer. The peduncle is cut long enough to facilitate handling. Fruits for immediate shipping are harvested 5 to 10 days before ripening. Bananas for marketing are packed in crates as tightly as possible to lessen unnecessary vibrations during transport.

Source:http://www.da.gov.ph

Fish Culture in Cages

Both fish pens and fish cages are confinement structures used for rearing fish. The pen, however, is larger; it ranges from 10,000 sq m to more than a square kilometer in contrast to the cage which ranges in size from one square meter to several hundreds of square meter. Also, cage culture is done in at least one-meter water depth or in deeper waters. Thus, this type can either be stationary or a floating cage which can then be established in the sea, lake, cove or river where biophysical factors are favorable. Species of fish that are grown in fish cages are usually expensive and sold live for a certain group of consumers. Demand for live fish exports to Taiwan, Hongkong and China is fast-increasing. Seafoods that are popularly exported alive and grown in cages are grouper, humphead wrasse, lobster and seabass. These species, when cooked alive, command more than triple in prices. Wrasse and groupers are first-class fish species that are believed to also have medicinal properties for sick and recuperating people. 

How to Culture Fish in Cages Site selection 

Fish cages should be installed in suitable areas that are protected from strong waves and currents, free from pollution and accessible to the farmers and market. A minimum depth of one meter is required. 

Fish cages 

There are two common types of floating fish cages: the bamboo frame cage and the nylon net cages with frames. They are both provided with anchors and floats. Fish cage rearing can be done in freshwater and brackishwater areas. 

Bamboo frame fish cages 

They are made of hard bamboo slats tied or nailed to wooden frames. The usual measurements are: 2 m long, 2 m wide and 2 m deep, 3 × 3 × 2 m and 4 × 2 × 1.75 m. They are provided with whole bamboo floats or empty drums at the top side. Net or bamboo top cover with door and lock is provided. 

Advantages 

 · Cages are easy and cheap to construct. · Cages can be operated cooperatively. · Cages are easy to stock and feed · Fish grow fast in cages. · Cages are easy to harvest. 

Net fish cages 

They are made of fine-meshed (0.32-1.27 cm) nylon nets connected to a float frame of whole bamboo with empty drums of plastic or styrofoam to enhance buoyancy. The empty drum is optional for a small-sized net cage. The usual size is 8-10 sq m with 2 m-2.5 m depth. The net cages are provided with concrete weights that also serve as anchors. The cage is also provided with a mooring line to keep it in place, as well as reinforcement bamboo frames to spread the nets. Fish cages can be used for fish fattening or growing. For growing purposes, use fingerlings. Before stocking, weigh and count the fish. As a nursery for fingerlings, the cage should be made of fine mesh net. The size is appropriate for easy handling. There are two cages —the first is a brooder's cage with a 1.255.0 cm mesh size This is placed inside a bigger cage which functions as the confinement cage or as a conditioning cage for fishes, subject to transport. This is commonly used for rearing fingerlings to marketable-sized fish. The net's mesh size depends on the size of fish or fingerling that would be stocked initially. The cage area usually ranges from 1 sq m to 100 sq m or more and the depth ranges from 1.0-2.0 m or more. Cages are subject to fouling organisms. Clean heavily fouled nets as often as necessary to ensure efficient water change. Check the net daily for possible damages to prevent escape of the stocks. Check also the structure (e.g., bamboo structures, ropes, sinkers, floats, etc.). Guarding the fish cages should be done at all times to prevent losses from poaching. Construct a caretaker's hut at the culture site to discourage poachers. 

Rearing of the stock 

 Fish sampling is done at least every month to determine the growth rate and the proper quantity of feed to be given. Expose the fish to outside parameters that may affect their feeding performance which eventually affects their growth rate. During the wet season, water temperature usually drops; thus, decelerating growth rate. In summer, the growth rate is faster. Hence, feeding should be regulated. Practice an addition feeding to determine the actual food needs of the fish, especially before the sampling schedule. Do not feed fish subject for sampling. On the average, depending on the fish species and the kind of feeds, the feeding rate is three to five percent of the body weight. Give commercial feeds at three percent and trash fish at five percent. In the absence of commercial type, an alternative feed may be made at home, suited to fish requirement, e.g., a 70-percent rice bran, mixed with 30-percent fish meal or fine trash fish for Tilapia mosambica (hybrid). Feeding should be done early in the morning and late in the afternoon by equally dividing the feed needed. It is important that feeds are available at all times when using fish cages. Feeding trays may be used to mimize wastage of feeds. Culture period ranges from three to five months. The stocking rate can be 5-20 pieces per square meter. 

Harvesting and marketing 

 Here is one way of harvesting fish: For the net cage, untie the bindings at the corners and sides of the net from the float frame. Insert a bamboo pole at the upper edge of the net cage and push the net along in order to corner the fish at one end. Scoop the fish with hand nets. The fish, if sold live, fetches a higher price. It is, therefore, advisable to place the fish in double plastic bags containing well-oxygenated water. The bags are then placed in styrofoam or burl bag containers. Dead fishes to be sold should be packed in crushed ice at the rate of 1:4 by weight (1 kg ice to 4 kg fish) for nearer markets and 1:1 ratio for more distant markets at a temperature of 0° C which is good only for 24 hours or less. 

Source:IIRR. 1995. Livelihood options for coastal communities. International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Silang, Cavite, Philippines. Published 1995 by the International institute of Rural Reconstruction Silang, Cavite 4118 Philippines. Printed in the PhilippinesISBN: 0-942717-64-3; photo from www.scotland.gov.uk.