The National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) on Wednesday had a training workshop on Plantain/Banana and Citrus Production.
The training which took place in Ibadan looked at the importance of the commodities in daily diet and economic empowerment.
The training equally covered the important aspect of the commodities’ value chains such as nursery production practices, economics of production, marketing and significance of record keeping for good business management.
Speaking on the important of Plantain production, Dr Abayomi A. Olaniyan, the executive director/chief executive officer, in his welcome address noted that plantain is very easy to cultivate and maintain unlike other cash crops that require so much time and money to maintain.
Abayomi stated that plantain is a low capital agribusiness, very lucrative and almost every Nigeria soil is good for plantain production.
He said “plantain is very easy to cultivate and maintain unlike other cash crops that require so much time and money to maintain”.
“Plantain is a low capital agribusiness, very lucrative and almost every Nigeria soil is good for plantain production”.
“Plantain fruits all year round, which makes the crop a more reliable all season staple food crop”, he added.
He gave the factor that affect the production of plantain as; inadequate planting materials, slow rate of sucker multiplication, dependence on natural regeneration for the supply of planting materials has also been observed to be inadequate and encourages infection by fungi, nematodes and weevils.
Aboyomi therefore recommend rapid production of clean planting materials, improved production techniques to lessen the effect that the above mentioned factors will have on plantain production.
He equally stated that in order to ensure success in plantain cultivation, there need for adequate skills and plan on land preparation, planting, agronomic practices (GAP), disease and pest management strategies as well as weed control.
Speaking on citrus production, Aboyomi said that citrus nursery production is important for future development of the commodity value chain.
He noted that Nigeria is the highest producer of citrus in Africa and is recorded as the world 9th producing country with an annual estimated production of 3.3 million metric tons.
According to him, nursery facilitates best conditions for growth of seedlings and selection of healthy and vigorous true to type seedlings for transplanting.
He said “nursery facilitates best conditions for growth of seedlings and selection of healthy and vigorous true to type seedlings for transplanting.
“It is important to note that nursery practices should be geared towards producing well grown and vigorous seedlings, free from major pest and diseases and there is no substitutes to starting off with well nursed planting materials,” he concluded.
