Código, conexiones entre placas y medidas efectuadas

Over the years, banana and plantain yields have increased, due not only to research and extension activities, but as well to expansion of cacao groves, where plantain is planted as shade. The mean annual growth rates for land area planted to plantain was 3.4% (from 1999–2001 to 2002–2004) and 2.5%

(from 2005–2007 to 2008–2010). Most farmers are smallholders, with an average farm size of 0.8–1.6 ha (Dankyi et al. 2007). From 1980 to 2005, the average annual per capita consumption of plantains increased slightly, from 82.2 to 84.8 kg (Dankyi et al. 2007, cited in Dzomeku 2013).

Dankyi and colleagues (ibid.) found that most farmers had access to fairly good infrastructure, including phones, FM radio reception, passable roads, transportation, and electricity. The villages, however, lacked market information for produce prices and marketing trends (Dankyi et al. 2007).

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Production is highly seasonal. When prices are high, farmers plant more, thereby increasing the amount in the glut period, when prices are low. Yet the market is too weakly articulated to absorb all of the production increase, which leads to excessive postharvest losses. This also affects the growth of agroindustry since there is a season of the year when raw material prices are very high. Ghana’s agri-business industry is relatively recent. In 2011, only five companies processed plantains into fufu flour.

Plantain chips are produced mostly for the domestic market, with only minimal export, whereas fufu flour is exported for the African diaspora (Dzomeku et al. 2011).

Most of the population in Ghana now lives in urban areas, emphasizing the need and opportunity to improve delivery and processing pathways (UNDP 2013). Furthermore, European demand for plantain is considerable: 195,848 t were imported in 2010 (Lescot 2012). Ghana has the advantage of being closer to the European market than other plantain exporters like Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Costa Rica (Dzomeku et al. 2011).

3.1 Seed users

A survey of communities involved in the TARGET project, and adjacent nonparticipating

communities, was carried out shortly after the TARGET project was completed (Dzomeku et al. 2008, 2010a, 2010b). Respondents were older (mean age: 47) and mostly full-time farmers, with little off-farm income. Most farmers worked their own family land. Many farmers intercropped plantain with other crops, including cocoa, cocoyam, vegetables, and cassava (Dzomeku et al. 2010a).

3.1 S

Bananas and plantains are vegetatively propagated, and farmers will use suckers from an existing field to establish a new one. Sucker production is slow, particularly for plantains, and most varieties produce from two to five suckers in a year (Staver and Lescot 2015). Establishing a new field from an existing one may be limited by the availability of suckers; however, whether farmers experience a lack of planting material depends on the context and intention of the farmer. For example, there may be new market opportunities that call for an increase in production. Or the farmer may wish to establish a field using different varieties.

Lack of planting material is more likely to be a problem for a project than for farmers. For example, an intervention may focus on new hybrids, which need to be disseminated to farmers, or on

demonstrating agronomic practices that allow farmers to tap into emerging or perceived market opportunities. Such projects would usually include a component on distributing planting material.

The TARGET project assumed that wide-scale adoption of new hybrids (see below under section 3.2) was hampered by a lack of availability of planting material. Indeed, the implementers saw that in countries where multiplication schemes are functional (e.g., Cuba, Tanzania), widespread adoption had been achieved. Over 90% of farmers in Uganda who had received training in multiplying clean planting material and in improved pest management now had improved plant vigor and production, with less yield loss due to plant breakage and toppling. In Ghana, benefits of $475/ha had been observed,

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compared with traditional practices, for farmers who adopted the technologies for three years (TARGET 2007).

Before the TARGET project, a few farmers in Ghana practiced the split corm technique to obtain planting materials. This technique increases the number of plants that can be obtained from a single sucker.

3.1.2 What changed as a result of the intervention

For the four hybrids (Table 5.2), each farmer received only three to five TC plantlets of each variety.

The small number of plantlets allowed more farmers to participate but generated an unmet demand for planting material. If farmers want to expand their area, they can only increase to about 15–20 plants in the following season, using suckers alone. Therefore, the project trained farmers in multiplication methods and in how to build the macropropagation chambers (see also section 6 on multiplication methods).

Table 5.2. Hybrids and quantities disseminated during the TARGET project

Hybrid Number of hybrid TC plantlets disseminated to 887 farmers

FHIA 21 8297

FHIA 25 2389

CRBP 39 1905

BITA 3 3691

Before the start of the TARGET project, farmers and consumers were presented with prepared fruits of the different hybrids for evaluation. Consumers’ preferences and the project partners determined variety selection. For Ghana, FHIA-21, CRPB-39, FHIA-25, and BITA-3 were selected.

Characteristics of each variety (TARGET 2007):

• FHIA-21 is a French type plantain hybrid, which is commercial in many countries and resistant to black Sigatoka and races 1 and 2 of Fusarium wilt, but susceptible to the nematodes

Radopholus similis and Pratylenchus coffeae. It can be eaten green (boiled, fried) or ripe (fried, baked); however, bruising and rapid ripening can be an issue. Bunch weights of FHIA 21 range from 22 to 35 kg with 120–150 fingers per bunch. It is a tall plant and may need propping to support the weight of the bunch.

• FHIA-25 is a hardy, semi-dwarf cooking banana variety that is highly resistant to black Sigatoka.

It can be eaten green (boiled, fried) or made into juice. The strong plant supports bunches of more than 50 kg without propping. Since bunches are very large, they are best harvested one hand at a time, prolonging the green life of the rest of the bunch (up to 2 months). The fruits of the harvested bunch have a shorter green life than traditional varieties (10 days).

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• BITA-3 is a starchy cooking banana, which is resistant to black Sigatoka and is virus tolerant.

This hybrid yields from 5 to 52 kg per plant depending on the growing conditions. It can be eaten ripe (fried or raw) and is particularly appreciated in Nigeria in the dish dodo. This hybrid exhibits slow sucker development.

• CRBP-39 is a cooking-type banana and is resistant to black Sigatoka. It has good agronomic qualities and has been accepted by the people of Cameroon. The average bunch size of this hybrid is 22.3 kg with about 7.5 hands and 106 fingers.

During the TARGET project, training was given in two seed multiplication methods (split corm and macropropagation) and one cleaning (paring) technology. The technical details of these methods are described under Section 6: Multiplication tools and techniques.

WVG established nurseries with farmers and MoFA extension officers, to produce clean planting materials in several communities. Materials such as polyethylene sheets and wheelbarrows were

provided free of charge to set up nurseries. Suckers were also collected by WVG and MoFA from farmers and raised at the CRI nursery in the town of Assin Juaso, before distributing the clean, multiplied

material back to the farmers. The Assin Juaso nursery continued multiplying and distributing suckers after the end of the TARGET project. WVG continued to provide resources to individual farmers who wanted to multiply suckers to distribute to other farmers. WVG built a propagation chamber for large-scale production of planting materials. During two sessions, 15 MoFA extension workers and WVG staff were trained on rapid multiplication. They also learned how to identify the new varieties.

The impact of the training of motivated extension officers was important, as they later set up demonstrations and taught farmers in additional regions (Ashanti, Western Region, Central Region) and they propagated and disseminated improved varieties to farmers. At Ejura in the Ashanti Region, WVG established a germplasm farm, or mother garden, of the improved plantain and banana varieties. A similar farm was also established at Assin Fosu with a mechanized sprinkler system for dry season irrigation so that plantlets could be produced throughout the year. WVG also established a clonal garden on their compound for multiplication of suckers. It is not known if these multiplication centers

continued to exist after the TARGET project ended.

A survey in the TARGET project area observed that the split-corm technique was widely used, also by non-participants (Dzomeku et al. 2010a). The macropropagation technique and paring, however, were used mostly by the participants. Macro-propagation was the least adopted technique during the

Black Sigatoka symptoms on a plantain leaf. This is a major disease for bananas and plantains.

Photo by Neil Palmer.

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TARGET project, probably because it requires specific skills, and a large investment in a high humidity chamber, nursery bags, and a shaded hardening nursery.

All technologies were tested in the

participating communities; adoption rates were high, except for macropropagation (Dzomeku et al. 2010a). Extension offices were important for teaching the technologies to participating farmers, who then shared the ideas with other farmers in their networks.

Farmers continued using the multiplication activities, notably macropropagation, after the end of the project (BM Dzomeku, pers. comm.

2016). There are no market places in Ghana

catering specifically to planting materials. However, a few farmers are practicing the technology on a modest scale. Plantains produce few suckers, and acquiring clean plantain planting material continues to be a challenge for farmers, particularly at the start of the rainy season (planting season). Suckers are often scarce following the long dry season.

There are two reasons why farmers are investing little in rapid multiplication as a business, in spite of the lack of planting material. First, the banana plantlets generated by rapid multiplication are more expensive than conventional suckers. Also, investing in larger quantities of planting material creates an additional transportation cost, as most multiplication facilities are some distance from the destination field. So the investment is greater than the price per plant. Second, price volatility may deter farmers from increased investment in plantains. During the glut season, prices per bunch may be too low for farmers to make a profit, and they may even lose money. During the lean season, prices are much more interesting. Initiatives are currently underway to examine irrigation so farmers can access these higher prices.

The multiplication technology continues to be used by government organizations as a rapid and cost-effective method to produce large quantities of planting material.