Banana is the world’s fourth most important starch crop after cassava and sweet potatoes and is also the fourth widely-grown food crop. It is an important staple food in a lot of African countries, including Malawi, being used mainly by small-scale farmers for both domestic use and income generation. Bananas are playing a key role in mitigating food shortage. It is being grown a lot more these days because it has been noticed that the banana plant can adapt to different kind environments.

By the end of this lesson, the farmer should be able to understand:

• Understand good management practices for Banana production
• Understand how to better manage Banana pests and diseases
• Acquire knowledge on improving Banana productivity
• Receive knowledge on post-harvest handling of Banana

• Kabuthu, Williams and Mulanje.
• Kabuthu can yield up to 60,000kg per hectare provided good growing practices are followed.
• The other two can yield two times as much as the Kabuthu. Some local banana cultivars being grown include Katsizi tall, Kholobowa 1 and 2, Kazanda and Zambia.

• The soils on which bananas thrive on should be deep light soils that are rich in organic matter. Banana production is best where the annual rainfall of at least 1200mm and the recommended pH range is 5.6 to 6.5.