Seinwar Students Learn How to Plant Bananas

by Amy Levendusky

On 7 March, 2005, the 6th Grade students of Seinwar Primary School met for their fourth session on learning about Pohnpei bananas, as a part of the Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) Youth-to-Youth/Island Food Community of Pohnpei project.

Extension agents from COM/FSM Land Grant, Augustine Primo and Engly Ioanis, began the session by giving a brief lecture to the class on a few important things to remember when planting a banana. The extension agents encouraged the students to check the banana sucker for signs of disease and pests, cautioning the students not to remove diseased banana suckers from their land and transplant them somewhere else as this practice could potentially spread the disease/pests. The corm of the banana sucker should always be washed and any bad spots on the corm should be removed with a knife before being planted. The agents emphasized the importance of picking a suitable sight to plant the banana sucker. The planting site should be in soft soil with no or very few rocks. Most varieties of Pohnpei bananas will grow well under the partial shade of a breadfruit tree.

After the lecture was finished, the students went outside and picked a site behind the school to plant the three suckers of Karat that the extension agents had provided. Karat as opposed to the more commonly grown Utin Menihle was chosen as the planting material for this project in order to increase awareness of the diversity and values of the yellow- or orange-fleshed Pohnpei banana varieties which contain a high amount of provitamin A carotenoids. Consumption of these bananas helps protect against diabetes, heart disease, cancer, vitamin A deficiency, and anemia (weak blood). One long-term aim of this project is to increase the production, availability, and consumption of Karat as well as the other yellow-fleshed Pohnpei bananas.

The extension agents demonstrated the planting of the first Karat sucker. The students learned that the richest part of the soil is in the top three to six inches. It is important to add compost or natural fertilizer (fallen leaves or the waste from pigs) to the hole after the banana has been placed inside it and then to fill in the hole with the remaining soil. Compost can also be placed on top of the soil around the base of the banana sucker. As the banana grows and eventually multiplies, it is best to desucker the plant or remove the unwanted suckers. It is important to leave the main stem, which is flowering or bearing fruit, the intermediate stem, which will soon flower or bear fruit, and then a small stem, which will grow to become the intermediate sucker. The extra suckers that are removed can then be planted in another area. Using this system, the students learned that they would be able to continually harvest a bunch of bananas about every seven to nine months depending on the variety. After the first Karat sucker was planted by demonstration, the other two suckers were given to the students to plant on their own.

Those facilitating the class included Ben Namakin of CSP, Amy Levendusky of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, and Augustine Primo and Engly Ioanis of COM-FSM Land Grant.