It is quite common to see banana bunches weighing about 20-25 kg in the market. But, a farmer from Theni district has produced a bunch with 257 bananas of the Grand Naine variety. The bunch was the major attraction for farmers and visitors, who attended the foundation day of National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) here a few days ago. The bunch weighed around 64 kg, double the national average.
Farmers, who went around the exhibition, spent considerable time at the stall where the bunch was displayed. They enquired the method followed by Loganathan of Theni district in raising the produce.
“It is amazing. It shows that we can increase the productivity if we follow the latest technology on raising banana,” a farmer said.
Enquiries revealed that tissue culture and drip irrigation had played a crucial role in producing the high yield banana.
P. Tamil Selvan, Manager, Jain Irrigation Systems, who had supplied the plants to the farmer, said that production of high yielding banana was possible if the farmers adopt tissue culture with drip irrigation. The yield depends upon the health of the parental plants. Identification of best plants would pave the way for achieving outstanding yield.
If the mother plant was healthy, it was possible for the farmers to raise banana plants with the same genetic characters.
