A super fertilizer that increases the weight of bananas by up to 10kgs is promising to increase the Kenya’s production by three fold, sealing the country’s huge banana deficit currently standing at 600,000 tonnes per year.
Banana production in Kenya
Kenya produced slightly less than 10m tonnes last year against a consumption of 10.8m tonnes per year, this according to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics. It is estimated that banana is planted only on 1.7 per cent of the country's arable land and produces an average of 14 tonnes per hectare.
Increases both production and shelf life
This is expected to also help the country cut on importation to fill the deficit and instead open the lucrative export market for local banana farmers who are mostly growing for subsistence consumption. The fertilizer also increases the shelf life of ripe bananas by 4-5 days, thanks to the extra potassium which normally lack in conventional fertilizers.
Dubbed Mavuno Fertilizer, it was introduced by cement maker, Athi River Mining Limited, increases the weight of bunches of tissue culture bananas by up to 10kgs while adding four to five days of extra shelf life for ripe bananas.
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Extra potassium increases the shelf life of ripe bananas
Thousands of banana farmers have already switched from DAP fertilizer, which has no potassium in it according to the company. It is mixed to provide nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in the ratio of 10:3:20 compared to DAP which provides a ratio of 18:46:0.
“Potassium is the key element in bananas it’s why we saw the need to have it in higher quantities in our fertiliser,” said Julius Nyabicha, ARM’s technical officer. The bananas are also sweeter. However, farmers have been using DAP or tea fertilisers. DAP is more suited to maize thanks to its high phosphorous mix, which maize needs to prevent its growth being stunted. Maize develops poor root systems and its lower leaves turn purple if it doesn’t have enough phosphorus.
Application
The Mavuno banana fertiliser is applied on planting and every six months on each stool of bananas. Each stool with three banana cultivars requires 250gms to be effective. However, a banana field extension officer with Africa Harvest still emphasizes the importance of phosphorous fertilisers. “It’s very important for root development,” in the early stages, said Eugenio Kiogora of Africa Harvest.
Besides the fertiliser, success in getting young bananas to thrive to maturity also depends on fighting nematodes with nematicides. “If they invade a field they are hard to control so it’s better to prevent them,” said Kiogora.
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This is important, because bananas lack a defined harvest period and grow continually, which means that applying chemical pesticides on young cultivars in a stool can contaminate banana fruit on an older cultivar.
To use the fungi nematicides 100gms of a product like Mocap is mixed with 20 litres of water and a litre is applied per stool at the base of the root. If banana plants are properly farmed, the Grand 9 tissue culture variety can produce top-level yields, of up to 100kgs of bunch.
Farmers can so far buy the new Mavuno Fertiliser in Kisii, Meru, Kirinyaga, Muranga and North Rift. ARM also produces specialist fertilisers for specific crops like maize, wheat, barley and also for specific soil-types.

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