BETTER FARMING SERIES

Twenty-six titles have been published in this series, designed as handbooks for a two-year intermediate level agricultural education and training course. They may be purchased as a set or as individual documents.

FIRST YEAR

1. The plant: the living plant; the root

2. The plant: the stem; the buds; the leaves 8. The plant: the flower

4. The soil: how the soil is made up

5. The soil: how to conserve the soil

6. The soil: how to improve the soil

7. Crop farming

8. Animal husbandry: feeding and care of animals

9. Animal husbandry: animal diseases; how animals reproduce

SECOND YEAR

10. The farm business survey

11. Cattle breeding

12. Sheep and goat breeding

13. Keeping chickens

14. Farming with animal power

15. Cereals

16. Roots and tubers

17. Groundnuts

18. Bananas

19. Market gardening

20. Upland rice

21. Wet paddy or swamp rice

22. Cocoa

23. Coffee

24. The oil palm

25. The rubber tree

26. The modern farm business

Better Farming Series    18

Bananas

Published by arrangement with the Institut africain pour le développement économique et social B.P. 8008, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome 1977

FAO Economic and Social Development Series No. 3/18

First printing 1977

ISBN 92-5-100149-9

© French edition, lnstitut africain pour le développement économique et social (INADES) 1971

© English edition, FAO 1977

Contents

1. Preface

2. Outline Of Course

3. Why bananas are grown

4. Where bananas are grown

5. Description of the banana plant

1. Underground stem and roots

2. Apparent trunk

3. Leaves

4. Flowers

5. Fruit

6. How to grow bananas

1. Preparing the ground and making the plantation

1. Preparing the soil

2. Digging the planting holes

3. Planting the suckers

7. Looking after the plantation

1. Keeping the soil clean

2. Applying fertilizers

3. Pruning

4. Supporting the plant

5. Looking after the fruit

6. Protection against insects and diseases

8. Harvesting and use of bananas

1. Harvesting

2. Output of a plantation

3. Use of bananas

4. Running a commercial banana plantation

9. Suggested question paper

PREFACE

This manual is a translation and adaptation of “Le bananier”, published by the Agri-Service-Afrique of the Institut afrscain pour le développement économique et social (INADES), and forms part of a series of 26 booklets.Grateful acknowledgement is made to the publishers for making available this text, which it is hoped will find widespread use at the intermediate level of agricultural education and training in English-speaking countries.

The original texts were prepared for an African environment and this is naturally reflected in the English version. However, it is expected that many of the manuals of the series — a list of which will be found on the inside front cover — will also be of value for training in many other parts of the world. Adaptations can be made to the text where necessary owing to different climatic and ecological conditions.

Applications for permission to issue this manual in other languages are welcomed. Such applications should be addressed to: Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

The author of this English version is Mr. A.J. Henderson, former Chief of the FAO Editorial Branch.

OUTLINE OF COURSE

• Why bananas are grown

• Where bananas are grown

• Description of the banana plant

Underground stem and roots

Apparent trunk

Leaves

Flowers

Fruit

• How to grow bananas

Preparing the ground and making the plantation

Preparing the soil

Digging the planting holes

Planting the suckers

• Looking after the plantation

Keeping the soil clean

Applying fertilizers

Pruning

Supporting the plant

Looking after the fruit

Protection against insects and diseases

• Harvesting and use of bananas

Harvesting

Output of a plantation

Use of bananas

Running a commercial banana plantation

• Suggested question paper

Why bananas are grown

The banana plant is grown for its fruit.

Bananas to be eaten raw

are grown in commercial plantations,

chiefly for export.

These bananas are soft, sweet, and not very mealy.

Two main kinds are planted:

• Varieties of the so-called Chinese banana,

or Canary banana,

such as Lacatan (chiefly in Jamaica),

Poyo, Big Dwarf, Little Dwarf.

• Varieties of the fig banana,

such as Gros Michel.

Around houses you often see another variety

which produces very small bananas

called “sweet figs.”

The kind of banana called plantain

is grown as a food crop in forest regions.

Its fruits are very large,

not sweet and very mealy.

They are cooked for eating.

There are two main types of plantains:

• French plantains,

with heavy bunches

containing many fruits;

• horn plantains,

with very big fruits,

few in number, shaped like a horn.

Where bananas are grown

The banana needs

heat,

humid air,

plenty of water,

light

It dislikes wind.

It likes soils rich in organic matter.

It likes soils that drain quickly.

Once picked, bananas

should not be left long in the plantation.

Banana plants are planted along roads, tracks,

railway lines or lagoons

so that the fruits can be quickly moved away.

In the world as a whole,

Central, and South America produce most bananas -

nearly 20 million tons a year.

Asia produces 10.2 million tons

and Africa 4.2 million tons.

In Africa, the chief producers of bananas are:

Angola

320 000 tons

Madagascar

280 000 tons

Ivory Coast

230 000 tons

Central African Empire

170 000 tons

Somalia

140 000 tons

Cameroon

90 000 tons

Guinea

90 000 tons

The above figures (for 1974) are from

the FAO Production yearbook 1974.

The production of plantains

is often not counted.

Description of the banana plant

The banana plant

is not a tree.

It is a giant

herbaceous plant

with an apparent trunk

that bends without breaking

(see Booklet No. 2, page 10).

The banana has an underground stem

with adventitious roots

(see Booklet No. 1, page 25).

It is full of food for the plant.

Alongside the main stem,

it has other stems called suckers.

These stems grow into banana plants.

The banana plant produces its fruit and dies.

Another sucker replaces it.

The banana plant has large leaves

closely rolled up one over the other.

Together they look like a trunk,

but they form only an apparent trunk.

Inside it there is a bud

which produces leaves.

After 7 or 8 months,

when some 30 leaves have grown,

the bud produces flowers.

The flowers of the banana plant

form a large spike

(see Booklet No. 3, page 6).

It turns downward. to the soil and opens.

It bears male and female flowers.

You can see:

• the female flowers

pressed closely together

in the shape of hands.

• a red bud

at the end of the spike

containing the male flowers;

the male flowers die quickly

and the bud slowly becomes smaller.

The banana plant yields fruits.

These fruits are long in shape,

with yellow or green skin.

The spike produces many bananas.

The bananas on one spike

are called a bunch.

On this bunch,

the bananas are clustered in several hands.

The flesh of a banana

is light in colour, sweet and soft.

In the middle of the fruit

you can see little black specks;

these are the seeds,

but they will not germinate

(see Booklet No. 1, page 8).

HOW TO GROW BANANAS

A banana plantation may last a long time.

But if you want good harvests,

if you want to till the soil well,

you must dig up the plantation

after 7 to 10 years.

When you nave dug up the banana plants,

let the ground lie fallow for 2 years.

Plant a legume

such as Calopogonium, Pueraria or Stylosanthes.

After 2 years,

dig in the legumes as green manure

(see Booklet No. 6, page 8).

You can then plant bananas again.

In Ivory Coast, in commercial plantations,

bananas are dug up

after cutting three bunches of fruit on each plant.

The replanting is done immediately.

Traditional plantations are short-lived,

for instance, 5 years in Cameroon,

2 to 4 years in equatorial Africa and Zaire.

In these plantations

other food crops are grown along with the bananas,

such as tania in southern Cameroon.

In Zaire attempts have been made

to grow banana plants and rubber trees together,

and bananas and oil palm.

Rubber trees and oil palms do not come into production quickly.

Between the rows of these trees,

bananas are planted;

they do produce a crop quickly

and the planter earns some money,

while he is waiting to harvest latex and fruit clusters.

When you make a cocoa plantation,

plant a banana sucker

beside each cocoa tree.

The banana will provide shade

for the young cocoa tree.

Preparing the ground and making the plantation

For a good plantation, you must:

• prepare the soil well,

• make planting holes in rows,

• do the planting well.

PREPARING THE SOIL

Clear the ground, cut up the trees,

stack them and burn them.

Some ground is too wet;

the water prevents the roots from developing.

Soil like this must be drained

to get rid of the water

(see Booklet No. 6, page 20).

Make ditches every 15 metres

in the direction of the slope.

Dig a big central ditch

that will carry away all the water.

Make ditches on each side of the plantation.

Push pieces of wood into the ground, in rows,

to mark the spots

where a banana plant is to be grown.

The distance between the banana plants varies

with the variety

and the method of growing them.

Plantations that are replanted every 3 or 4 years

are planted closely.

Plantations that are replanted every 10 years

are planted at a lower density

(see Booklet No. 1, page 26).

For example:

In southern Ivory Coast,

Poyo bananas are planted 2 metres apart

in rows that are 2 metres apart.

This gives about 2 500 banana plants

to the hectare.

In Cameroon

Gros Michel bananas are planted 2.85 metres apart

in rows 2.85 metres apart.

In plantations

where bananas are grown with other crops,

bananas may be planted 5 metres apart

in rows 5 metres apart.

DIGGING THE PLANTING HOLES

One or two months before planting,

make a hole at the places

where the pieces of wood were stuck in the ground.

Make the holes 60 centimetres deep,

60 centimetres wide and 60 centimetres long.

Put the soil from the top on one side

and the soil from the bottom on the other side.

Fill the holes with compost and manure

(see Booklet No. 6, pages 5 - 7).

Bananas dislike wind.

To shelter them, plant bamboos

on the edges of the plantation.

These bamboos will also provide stakes

for the bananas (see page 15).

PLANTING THE SUCKERS

For planting, use suckers (see page 4).

Take them from banana plants

that are between 3 and 6 years old.

These suckers should be

between 50 centimetres and 1 metre high

and broad at the base.

Let them dry in the shade for 3 or 4 days

before planting them.

Just before planting them,

trim them at a point 50 centimetres

from the base of the plant

and dip them in water

in which potassium permanganate is mixed.

Plant at the end of the dry season,

so that roots grow

before the rainy season begins,

and the suckers do not rot.

Two months earlier,

you made the planting holes.

You separated the soil at the bottom

from the soil at the top.

You put compost in the holes.

At planting time,

take the compost out of the holes.

Put the soil from the top

into the bottom of the hole,

place the sucker in the earth.

The base of the sucker is now 10 centimetres

from the surface of the ground.

Put compost round the young plant.

Put the bottom soil on the ground surface.

LOOKING AFTER THE PLANTATION

For a fine plantation, you must:

• keep the soil clean;

• apply fertilizers;

• prune the plants;

• prevent the plants from falling;

• look after the fruit;

• protect the plants from diseases and insects.

Keeping the soil clean

The grass grows a lot

when the banana plant is small.

When the banana has grown up,

the grass dies, because it has no light.

There is no need to sow a cover plant.

If the grass does not die, apply Gramoxone.

Mix 0.4 litres of the product

with 400 litres of water to treat one hectare.

Add a spreader to the mixture

to make it stick to the grass better.

You can put down a mulch (see Booklet No.5, page 18)

of dry grass and leaves

at the end of the rainy season.

This vegetation will rot, and make humus;

it will help to keep the soil moist during the dry season.

In low-lying ground there is too much water.

It must be drained (see page 9).

In other places, the bananas do not get enough water.

So you must give the bananas water by irrigating them

(see Booklet No. 6, pages 18-19).

Look for a stream where there is water all the year.

Dig ditches between the rows of bananas.

Lead the water from the stream with dams and ditches,

so that the soil of the plantation is always moist.

Applying fertilizers

You added organic matter in the form of the compost

that you put into the planting holes.

The leaves and stalks cut from banana plants

rot on the soil and add more organic matter.

But the plantation still needs mineral salts

(see Booklet No. 1, page 19).

Bananas like potassium

(see Booklet No. 6, page 11).

You can give a banana plant each year the following:

• Nitrogen (see Booklet No. 6, page 10)

750 grammes of ammonium sulphate

or 300 grammes of urea.

• Phosphorus (see Booklet No. 6, page 10)

300 grammes of dicalcium phosphate

or 500 grammes of Thomas slag (Bessemer basic slag),

• Potassium (see Booklet No. 6, page 11)

600 grammes of potassium chloride.

Give also 500 grammes of dolomitic limestone

per plant once a year, in one application.

The nitrogen and the potassium

are given in several applications (four or five times).

The phosphorus and the lime

are applied at the end of the dry season

or at the end of the rainy season.

The fertilizer will not be washed away by the rain.

If the banana plants are irrigated,

fertilizer may be given during the dry season.

Instead of applying several different fertilizers,

you can use one compound fertilizer

(see Booklet No. 6, page 11).

For young plants

you can give 1.5 kilogrammes of 10-10-20 fertilizer

per plant per year, in several applications.

For bananas in production,

you can give 1.5 kilogrammes of 5-12-24 fertilizer

per plant per year, in several applications.

In addition, give 500 grammes of dolomitic limestone

in one application per plant per year.

Pruning

Pruning banana plants is called suckering.

There are several ways of doing this.

We shall deal with only one way.

The offshoot that you planted is called the parent plant.

Four months after planting,

cut away all the suckers that have sprouted

except one.

Cut the suckers off at ground level

or below the surface of the ground.

Keep the best sucker,

the one that is best placed.

The plantation is laid out in rows,

so that if the suckers are in the same line,

the plantation rows are unchanged.

Four months after this first suckering,

the parent plant is 8 months old

and the one remaining sucker is 4 months old.

Once again, cut off all the other suckers

except one.

About 10 months after planting

(taking Poyo bananas

as an example),

the parent plant

produces fruits.

Harvest these fruits,

and cut down

the parent plant.

The first generation sucker

is now 6 months old

and the second generation

is 2 months old.

You can use a machete or axe

to cut out the suckers

you do not want to keep.

Supporting the plant

The fruit of banana plants is very heavy.

The plant bends under the weight,

and the wind may blow it down.

You must prevent it from falling.

To do this, cut thick bamboos about 3 metres long.

Make a hole at one end of each bamboo.

Tie two bamboos together

with a piece of wire

40 centimetres long.

Put the bamboos in place,

as shown in the drawing,

when the flowers have appeared

and turned down to the earth.

The bamboos hold up

the banana plant.

It rests on the wire

between the two bamboos.

Looking after the fruit

When the plant has flowered,

the male flower bud is a long way

from the lowest hand of female flowers.

Twist the bud to break it off,

and cut off the lowest hand of the bunch.

Cover the whole bunch with plastic

when the hands turn upward.

See that there are holes in the plastic

so that the bunch can breathe.

The plastic protects the bunch from sun and rain

and from sprays for leaf spot disease (see page 17).

If you do not cover the bunch with plastic,

the bananas will get black patches

and will not be fit to sell.

Protection against insects and diseases

The banana is attacked

by many insects and diseases.

• Banana weevil

This insect

makes holes in the base of the banana plant

and lays its eggs in these holes.

The eggs turn into little weevils.

They eat out the heart of the banana plant.

You do not see the weevils,

but if the fruit bunch does not develop,

or if the bunch is small and badly shaped,

there may be weevils.

To find out if there are weevils in the plantation,

cut pieces of the plant ’s apparent trunk lengthwise.

Put two pieces on the ground near each plant.

Look every day at these pieces.

If there are weevils in the plantation,

they will hide under the pieces of “trunk.”

To control the weevils, use BHC.

Put 25 to 30 grammes of BHC round each plant.

• Banana eelworm or nematode

These are tiny worms

that are found in the soil.

They eat the roots,

and once the banana has no roots,

it cannot feed,

and may be blown over by the wind.

Make sure the bananas have no eelworms

when they are planted.

Before planting,

dip the suckers in lukewarm water,

or in water mixed with Némagon.

If there are eelworms in the plantation,

put Némagon in the soil.

• Other pests

There are other pests that attack bananas

such as thrips, aphids, scale insects, etc.

They are controlled with BHC, Aldrin or Dieldrin.

• Panama disease

This disease is caused

by a tiny fungus in the soil.

It makes the leaves break.

If you cut the banana plant,

the apparent trunk is coloured brownish red.

To control the disease,

plant resistant dwarf varieties

such as Poyo or Lacatan.

These bananas are very resistant to Panama disease.

The Gros Michel variety is not resistant.

• Leaf spot disease (see page 15)

This disease is caused by a fungus.

The leaves show grey spots ringed with dark yellow.

The banana plant cannot breathe

and the yield falls greatly.

The disease appears

when the temperature is high

and the air is very humid.

It is treated by spraying with mineral oil,

using 12 to 20 litres per hectare.

• Bunchy top

This disease is carried by an aphid.

Dark green streaks appear on the leaves.

The leaves do not grow long and are wavy at the edges.

Dig up the diseased banana plants.

The aphid can be controlled with Malathion or Dieldrin.

• “Cigar-end” rot

The fruits go rotten.

The disease begins at the tips of the bananas.

To control this disease,

cut off the last hand that does not grow

and break off the male flower bud (see page 15).

• Mosaic disease

Small yellow patches appear on the leaves

toward the midrib (see Booklet No. 2, page 14).

You can see them easily

by holding the leaf up to the sun.

You can also see little holes in the leaf-stalk.

To control the disease,

dig up the plants and wait a long time

before planting again in the same place.

• False mosaic disease

Light spots of varying colour can be seen on the leaves.

This is not a serious disease.

It may be caused by lack of copper in the soil.

• Lack of zinc

The plant’s leaves do not grow very long,

and are pale, narrow and pointed.

The disease is cured by sprinkling on the ground

50 grammes of zinc sulphate per plant.

• Lack of magnesium

The disease is cured by applying dolomitic limestone.

HARVESTING AND USE OF BANANAS

Harvesting

Bananas must not ripen on the plant.

The bunch of fruits finishes ripening

tied to a rope, in the shade.

If the bunch ripens on the plant,

the bananas split and become mealy.

Bunches can be kept longer if they are harvested unripe.

Output of a plantation

A well-cared-for plantation

has a big output.

The third harvest

on any one plantation

is the biggest of all.

From the fourth harvest,

the output begins to go down.

The yield of a plantation

may vary between 30 and 50 tons per hectare.

Use of bananas

Bananas are a strength-giving food.

The sweet banana, eaten raw when it is ripe,

is as rich as other raw fruits.

It contains a lot of vitamins.

It should be eaten very ripe.

Plantains, when prepared,

give more energy than prepared cassava.

They contain

more protein (see Booklet No. 8, page 14) than cassava,

but less mineral salts (see Booklet No. 1, page 19).

It is better to eat plantains than cassava.

Food crop bananas

such as plantains and certain fig bananas

are eaten cooked.

The greener they are when harvested,

the less sweet they are.

Large quantities of plantains are eaten

in all the forest regions of west Africa.

Ivory Coast produces about 1 100 000 tons of plantains,

Cameroon about 850 000 tons,

and Gabon about 80 000 tons.

• Cooked bananas

To make foutou, peel plantains,

cook them in water,

then mash them and roll them into balls.

Plantains are also eaten

grilled over the fire,

or fried in oil.

• Dried bananas

• Bananas can be dried,

if you cannot sell them all.

Peel them,

then slice them into rounds

and dry them in the sun.

When they are dry

they can be made into powder or flour.

• Banana flour is made with plantains

or with green fig bananas.

It is eaten in forest regions.

• Banana powder is sweet.

It is made from ripe bananas.

Mash the bananas

and dry the paste in the oven.

Banana powder should be stored in metal boxes

and kept in a dry place.

• Making banana beer

The bananas must be very ripe.

In the rainy season

let them finish ripening laid on a hurdle

over the fire where the cooking is done.

During the dry season

make a pit in the ground.

On one side of it, dig a little ditch.

Cover all the sides of the pit

with green banana leaves.

Pack the bunches of bananas in the pit.

Cover them with banana leaves and earth.

Light a fire in the ditch

and let the warmth and smoke into the pit.

Keep the fire going every day

until the bananas are quite ripe.

This takes about six days.

Then take away the leaves and earth.

Peel the bananas.

Half-fill a hollowed-out tree trunk with banana pulp.

Cover with fine grass.

Knead the pulp with a little water.

Press it and let the juice run out.

Then put the juice in a vat or earthenware jar

with germinated millet and a little beer.

Cover the vat or the jar

with grass to act as a filter.

The beer can be drunk the next day

through a straw or wooden tube.

This beer will not keep for very long.

Banana beer is made chiefly

in Rwanda and Burundi

with special varieties of bananas.

• Other uses of the banana plant

Bananas can be given to animals to eat,

especially to pigs.

The skins and the male flower buds

can also be used as fodder.

Oxen like

the chopped-up apparent trunk and leaves

mixed with oil cake.

If you leave the remains of the plants

(such as apparent trunk, leaves, flower buds)

on the ground of the plantation,

they will become organic matter in the soil.

If you take these remains

away from the plantation

to give to animals,

you will not add organic matter to the soil.

But a banana plantation

needs plenty of organic matter.

So if you remove the banana plant remains,

you must give the plantation

dried herbage, manure or compost.

Banana leaves contain fibre.

Sacks and ropes

are made with this fibre.

It is obtained chiefly

from a variety of banana called abaca.

The fibres of abaca leaves

are called “Manila hemp.”

Running a commercial banana plantation

This example of a commercial banana plantation

comes from near Akoupé in southern Ivory Coast:

Every day, new flowers appear on the plants.

On the 5th and 20th of each month,

the new flowers are counted.

They are marked

with a little button tied on with wire.

Buttons of a different colour

are used each time the flowers are counted.

In this way, the number of new flowers is known.

In about 3 months

these new flowers will yield

a bunch of bananas for harvesting.

The planter knows the number of bunches

that will ripen

and can arrange for transport by banana boat

A banana boat comes

about twice a week.

Each time a little of the harvest is sent.

It works like this:

Suppose the planter has ordered transport

for 40 tons of fruit during the month.

Then he sees that the fruit will ripen

before the 15th of the month.

He asks for transport for 25 tons

during the first 2 weeks of the month,

leaving 15 tons

for the rest of the month.

All the plantation owners belong to a cooperative,

COFRUCl (Compagnie fruitiére de Côte d’Ivoire).

It organizes transport in banana boats.

Bananas must be graded by size.

In the plantation

they use an instrument called a gauge

to measure the thickness of bananas.

Bananas are graded from 40 to 45 millimetres thickness.

There are two grading systems,

one with the odd numbers (41, 43 or 45 millimetres)

and the other with the even numbers

(40,42 or 44 millimetres)

When the planter gives his orders for the shipment,

he can state which system he wants.

For grading,

three bananas in one hand are chosen

and each is measured.

The thickness of the bananas on a bunch

is related to the number of hands on the bunch.

If the bunch has 5 to 7 hands,

the size of the three bananas measured

should be 40 or 41 millimetres,

depending on the chosen grading system.

If the bunch has 7 to 10 hands,

the size of each of the three bananas measured

should be 42 or 43 millimetres.

If a bunch has more than 10 hands,

the size of each of the three bananas

should be 44 or 45 millimetres.

The bunches ready for harvesting

are known by the colour of the buttons

with which the bunches were marked 3 months earlier.

The planter says what size fruit he wants picked.

A worker goes through the plantation

and counts the number of hands on each bunch

with a button of the right colour,

measures three bananas on each of the bunches,

makes sure that the bunch is ready for harvesting,

and marks the bunch for cutting.

The bunches are cut early in the morning.

This is done one day, at most,

before the boat leaves.

Men carry the bunches out of the plantation

on a pad on their backs.

The bunches are tied to long poles supported by trestles.

The string used for tying

is soaked in copper sulphate.

The bunches are weighed.

The coloured buttons are taken off the bunches.

The buttons of one colour, let us say green,

are then counted.

Three months earlier, 1 600 green buttons

were fixed to the plants in the plantation.

Now, for example, 360 green buttons are counted.

So the planter knows that he still has

1 240 bunches marked green (1 600 less 360).

These bunches marked with the green buttons

will ripen in the course of the month.

Transporting and packing bananas

The goods lorry arrives.

Inside, it has pads along the sides

to protect the bunches.

On the floor of the lorry

there is a thick layer of dry leaves.

Each bunch is wrapped

and a cover is put over each row of bunches.

The lorry drives to the packing station.

There, the size of the bananas is measured again.

All the bunches

which do not measure up to the required size

are thrown out.

Stained or rotten bunches are also rejected.

The bunches are cut into hands of bananas

and these hands are cleaned and washed.

The hands of bananas

are packed in cartons.

Some countries still send out complete bunches,

but this wastes a lot of space and weight.

The cartons are then taken to the banana boat.

SUGGESTED QUESTION PAPER

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

Why are bananas grown?

The banana is not a tree, what is it?

How are the female flowers arranged?

What is the name for the fruit produced by one spike of

flowers?

What is suckering?

Why do you put bamboos up against the banana plants?

Why do you wrap the bunch of bananas in plastic?

What does the banana weevil do to the banana plant?

What are the different parts of a banana plant?

How can you tell when a banana plant has mosaic disease?

When do you apply fertilizers to a banana plantation?

Read carefully what follows and reply in the

words you use when speaking to a friend.

One of your friends has a banana plantation. He does not

take much trouble over it. He always says that bananas

look after themselves. He has heard that you have studied

a course on how to grow bananas, and he comes to ask your

advice, because his plantation does not produce much.

What do you tell him? What do you advise him to do?

FAO SALES AGENTS AND BOOKSELLERS

Antilles, Netherlands  Boekhandel St. Augustinus, Abraham de Veerstraat 12, Willemstad, Curagao.

Argentina  Editorial Hemisferio Sur S.R.L., Librerià Agropecuaria, Pasteur 743, Buenos Aires.

Australia  Hunter Publications, 58A Gipps Street, Collingwood, Vic. 3066; The Assistant Director, Sales and Distribution, Australian Government Publishing Service, P.O. Box 84, I Canberra, A.C.T. 2600, and Australian Government Publications and Inquiry Centres 1 in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

Austria  Gerold & Co., Buchhandlung und Verlag, Graben 31, 1011 Vienna.

Bangladesh  Agricultural Development Agencies in Bangladesh, P.O. Box 5045, Dacca 5.

Barbados  Cloister Bookstore Ltd., Hincks Street, Bridgetown.

Belgium  Service das publications de la FAO, M.J. De Lannoy, rue du Trône 112, 1050 Brussels. I CCP 000-0808993-13.

Bolivia  Los Amigos del Libro, Perú 3712, Casilla 450, Cochabamba; Mercado 1315, La Paz; J Réne Moreno 26, Santa Cruz; Junin esq. 6 de Octubre, Oruro.

Brazil  Livraria Mestre Jou, Rua Guaipá 518, São Paulo 10; Rua Senador Dantas 19-S205/206, I Rio de Janeiro.

Brunei  MPH Distributors Sdn. Bhd., 71/77 Stamford Road, Singapore 6 (Singapore).

Canada  Renouf Publishing Co. Ltd., 2182 Catherine St. West, Montreal, Que. H3H 1M7.

Chile  Biblioteca, FAO Oficina Regional para America Latina, Av. Providencia 871, Casilla I 10095, Santiago.

China  China National Publications Import Corporation, P.O. Box 88, Peking.

Colombia  Litexsa Colombiana Ltda., Calle 55, N° 16-44, Apartado Aereo 51340, Bogota,

Costa Rica  Libreria, Imprenta y Litografia Lehmann S.A., Apartado 10011, San Jose.

Cuba  Instituto del Libro, Calle 19 y 10, N° 1002, Vedado.

Cyprus  MAM, P.O. Box 1722, Nicosia.

Denmark  Ejnar Munksgaard, Norregade 6, Copenhagen S.

Dominican Rep.  Fundación Dominicana de Desarrollo, Casa de las Gárgolas, Mercedes 4, Santo Domingo.

Ecuador  Su Libreria Ci’a. Ltda., Garcfa Moreno 1172, Apartado 2556, Quito.

El Salvador  Libreria Cultural Salvadoreña S.A., Avenida Morazán 113, Apartado Postal 2296, 1 San Salvador.

Finland  Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, 1 Keskuskatu, Helsinki,

France  Editions A. Pedone, 13 rue Soufflot, 75005 Paris.

Germany, F.R.  Alexander Horn Internationale Buchhandlung, Spiegelgasse 9, Postfach 3340, Wiesbaden.

Ghana  Fides Enterprises, P.O. Box 1628, Accra.

Greece  “ Eleftheroudakis ”, 4 Nikis Street, Athens.

Guatemala  Distribuciones Culturales y Técnicas “ Artemis ”. Quinta Avenida 12-11, Zona 1, Guatemala City.

Guyana  Guyana National Trading Corporation Ltd., 45-47 Water Street, Georgetown.

Haiti  Max Bouchereau, Librairie “A la Caravelle”, B.P. 111B, Port-au-Prince.

Honduras  Editorial Nuevo Continente S. de R.L., Avenida Cervantes 1230-A, Apartado Postal 380, Tegucigalpa.

Hong Kong  Swindon Book Co., 13-15 Lock Road, Kowloon.

Iceland  Snaebjörn Jónsson and Co. hi., Hafnarstraeti 9, P.O. Box 1131, Reykjavik.

India  Oxford Book and Stationery Co., Scindia House. New Delhi; 17 Park Street, Calcutta.

Indonesia  P.T. Gunung Agung, 6 Kwitang, Djakarta.

Iran  Iran Book Co. Ltd., 127 Nadershah Avenue, P.O. Box 14-1532, Tehran; Economist Tehran, 99 Sevom Esfand Avenue, Tehran (sub-agent).

Iraq  National House for Publishing, Distributing and Advertising, Rashid Street, Baghdad.

Ireland  The Controller, Stationery Office, Dublin.

Israel  Emanuel Brown, P.O. Box 4101, 35 Allenby Road and Nachlat Benyamin Street, Tel Aviv; 9 Shlomzion Hamalka Street, Jerusalem.

Italy  Distribution and Sales Section, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome; Libreria Scientifica Dott. L. De Biasio “ Aeiou ”, Via Meravigli 16, 20123 Milan; Libreria Commissionaria Sansoni “Licosa “, Via Lamarmora 45, C.P. 552, 50121 Florence.

Jamaica  Teachers Book Centre Ltd., 96 Church Street, Kingston.

Japan  Maruzen Company Ltd., P.O. Box 5050, Tokyo Central 100-31.

Kenya  Text Book Centre Ltd., P.O. Box 47540, Nairobi.

Korea, Rep. of  The Eul-Yoo Publishing Co. Ltd., 5 2-Ka, Chong-ro, Seoul.

Kuwait  Saeed & Samir Bookstore Co. Ltd., P.O. Box 5445, Kuwait.

Lebanon  Dar Al-Maaref Liban S.A.L., place Riad El-Solh, B.P. 2320, Beirut.

Luxembourg  Service des publications de la FAO, M.J. De Lannoy, rue du Trône 112, 1050 Brussels (Belgium).

Malaysia  MPH Distributors Sdn. Bhd., 9A Jalan 14/20, Section 14, Petaling, Jaya.

Mauritius  Nalanda Company Limited, -30 Bourbon Street, Port Louis.

Mexico  Dilitsa, Puebla 182-D, Apartado 24-448, Mexico City 7, D.F.

Morocco  Librairie “ Aux Belles Images ”, 281 avenue Mohammed V, Rabat.

Netherlands  N.V. Martinus Nijhoff, Lange Voorhout 9, The Hague.

New Zealand  Government Printing OfficeGovernment Bookshops at Rutland Street, P.O. Box 5344, Auckland; Mulgrave Street, Private Bag. Wellington; 130 Oxford Terrace, P.O. Box 1721, Christchurch; Princes Street, P.O. Box 1104, Dunedin; Alma Street, P.O. Box 857, Hamilton.

Nicaragua  Incusa-Culturama, Camino de Oriente, Apartado Cl05, Managua.

Nigeria  University Bookshop (Nigeria) Ltd., University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Norway  Johan Grundt Tanum Bokhandel, Karl Johansgt. GT 41-43, Oslo 1.

Pakistan  Mirza Book Agency, 65 The Mall, Lahore 3.

Panama  Distribuidora Lewis S.A., Edificio Dorasol, Calle 25 y Avenida Balboa, Apartado 1634, Panama 1.

Peru  Librería Distribuidora Santa Rosa, Jirón Apurimac 375, Lima.

Philippines  The Modern Book Company, 928 Rizal Avenue. Manila.

Poland  Ars Polona-Ruch, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 7, Warsaw.

Portugal  Livraria Bertrand, S.A.R.L., Apartado 37, Amadora; Livraria Portugal, Dias y Andrade Ltda., Apartado 2681, Rua do Carmo 70-74, Lisbon-2; Edicoes ITAU, Avda. . Republica 46A c/v-E, Lisbon-1.

Romania  Ilexim, Calea Grivitei N° 64-66, B.P. 2001, Bucarest.

Saudi Arabia  University Bookshop, Airport Road, P.O. Box 394, Riyadh.

Senegal  Librairie Africa, 58 Av. Georges Pompidou, B.P. 1240, Dakar.

Singapore  MPH Distributors Sdn. Bhd., 71/77 Stamford Road, Singapore 6.

Somalia  “ Samater’s ”, P.O. Box 936, Mogadishu.

Spain  Mundi Prensa Libros S.A., Castello 37, Madrid 1; Libreria Agricola, Fernando VI 2, Madrid 4. ,

Sri Lanka  M.D. Gunasena and Co. Ltd., 21-7 Norris Road, Colombo 11.

Switzerland  Librairie Payot S.A., Lausanne et Geneve; Buchhandlung und Antiquariat, Heinimann & Co., Kirchgasse 17, 8001 Zurich.

Surinam  VACO nv in Surinam, P.O. Box 1841, Domineenstraat 26/32, Paramaribo.

Sweden  C.E. Fritzes Kungl. Hovbokhandel, Fredsgatan 2, 103 27 Stockholm 16.

Tanzania  Dar es Salaam Bookshop, P.O. Box 9030, Dar es Salaam.

Thailand  Suksapan Panit, Mansion 9, Rajadamnern Avenue, Bangkok.

Togo  Librairie du Bon Pasteur, B.P. 1164, Lomé.

Trinidad and Tobago  The Book Shop, 111 Frederik Street, Port of Spain.

Turkey  Güven Bookstores, Güven Bldg., P.O. Box 145, Müdafaa Cad. 12/5, Kizilay-Ankara; Güven Ari Bookstores, Ankara Cad. No. 45, Caĝaloĝlu-lstambul; Güven Bookstore, S.S.K. Konak Tesisleri P-18, Konak-lzmir.

United Kingdom  Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6HB (callers only); P.O. Box 569, London SE1 9NH (trade and London area mail orders); 13a Castle Street, Edinburgh EH2 3AR; 41 The Hayes, Cardiff CF1 1JW; 80 Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4JY; Brazennose Street, Manchester M60 8AS; 258 Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2HE; Southey House, Wine Street, Bristol BS1 2BQ.

United States of America  UNIPUB, 345 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10010; mailing addressP.O. Box 433, Murray Hill Station, New York, N.Y. 10016.

Uruguay  Juan Angel Peri, Alzaibar 1328, Casilla de Correos 1755, Montevideo.

Venezuela  Blume Distribuidora S.A., Av. Rómulo Gallegos esq. 2a. Avenida, Centro Residencial “ Los Almendros ”, Torre 3, Mezzanina, Ofc. 6, Urbanización Montecristo, Caracas.

Yugoslavia  Jugoslovenska Knjiga, Terazije 27/11, Belgrade; Cankarjeva Zalozba, P.O. Box 201 -IV, Ljubliana; Prosveta Terazije 16, P.O. Box 555, 11001 Belgrade.

Other countries  Requests from countries where sales agents have not yet been appointed may be sent toDistribution and Sales Section, Foot and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.