Bananas Bananas are cultivated in nearly every moist tropical country, and constitute a substantial part of the local diet. Jamaica is one of the leading banana-exporting countries in the world. Deep loam with a fair proportion of sand is the best type of soil for banana cultivation. There should be good under-drainage, for the roots are very susceptible to water-logged soils. In Jamaica bananas are grown on various kinds of soils, but especially on the three most important types the alluvial soils, the shales and the red limestone soils. The water requirement of the banana is very great. Whereas St. Mary and Portland with their abundant rainfall provide excellent banana lands, the St. Catherine plains have to be extensively watered by artificial means to grow bananas. A high temperature is necessary, and the plant thrives best in tropical and more so in equatorial climates. Clean weeding should not be practised. The plants are propagated by shoots or suckers which used to be spaced 3 m by 3m (9 ft by 9 ft) apart. However, closer planting with the use of fertilisers is now being done to get more yield to the acre. The plant does not offer resistance to heavy wind and entire crops are destroyed in a hurricane. Erosion is an important factor to consider in banana cultivation, for about 80 per cent of Jamaicas bananas are produced on sloping land. The plant does not provide protection against soil erosion, because its important roots occur in the top O.25 to 0.66 metres (10 to 24 ins) layer of soil. Extensive conservation measures, therefore, have to be adopted on sloping ground. Panama Disease and Leaf Spot are the two main diseases which affect the plant. The Lacatan variety is immune to Panama Disease and while Leaf Spot is still a serious problem it can be effectively checked by careful spraying. The main pest is the banana weevil borer, which can be controlled by strict field sanitation. Coffee Apart from its great demand on the world market, coffee is important as a money crop because it can be cultivated on slopes, too steep for other crops; it can be picked by unskilled labour, and it keeps well and is not damaged by rough transportation. Coffee grows with best results in a warm, moist climate, and on rich, well-drained soils with an abundance of decayed vegetates mainly a crop for high elevations and since it should be protected from wind, the leeward slopes of mountains are more suitable than the windward slopes. The large coffee growing districts of St. Andrew are on the southern slopes of the Blue Mountains, thus sheltered from the northeast trade winds. Three chief chemicals should be present in the soil-- potash, which is needed at all times, nitrogen and phosphoric acid. One of the most important aspects of coffee cultivation is pruning, which gets rid of old wood and encourages new branches for blossoming and crop-bearing. Blue Mountain coffee is of very fine quality, and is well known throughout the world.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:01:13 +0000
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