Household uses of the banana plant in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Objective: Banana is ranked first among staple crops in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Depending on the agro-ecological conditions, cultivars grown, cultural and socio-economic factors, the use of other banana plant parts other than the fruit pulp, has been widely reported. This has not been documented in this region. This study examined the other household uses of banana in North and South Kivu provinces, eastern DR Congo. Methodology and results: This study was conducted through surveys covering 200 randomly sampled households (with at least 50 banana mats), each in North and South Kivu in the years 2011. Data were collected on the use of different banana parts, other than the fruit pulp, using a structured questionnaire. All the banana parts were found to be useful, though with varying levels of importance. Commonly used parts included the leaves (green/dry), pseudostem and the peels. The corms/rhizomes were the least used parts. The most prevalent uses across plant parts included use for mulch and compost, feed for livestock, construction materials, ropes for tethering small ruminants and play items. A small fraction of the households used male buds for food, feed and medicine. Other uses included extraction of fibre, arts and crafts and use as medicine. Conclusion and application of findings: Culinary and medicinal attributes, use for art and crafts however, look to be underexploited and yet could be of great benefit to resource constrained communities. An in-depth study is recommended especially to verify and understand the culinary and medicinal attributes reported for the different plant parts in the region. Use of the male bud as a vegetable was also reported and could be promoted among communities in the region. The nutrient value of the pseudostem is high and could be promoted as animal feed in this highly populated region to enable zero grazing of small ruminants.

Agronomic performance of local and introduced plantains, dessert, cooking and beer bananas (Musa spp.) across different altitude and soil conditions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

“…The pseudostems and leaves are commonly used as mulch in plantations, livestock feed and as wrapping material (Karamura, 1993). Dried leaf bases are extensively used as roofing material for houses, to weave ropes for tethering goats and sheep, and for mattress making (Karamura, 1993;Kamira et al, 2015). In Eastern and Central Africa, banana is commonly grown by small-scale farmers whose farm size ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 ha.…”

Utilizing Spent Plantain Pseudostems to Grow Vegetables for Additional Income to Farm Households in Nigeria

“…On the attempts to use plantain waste, Belewu and Belewu (2005) explored the potential of Plantain leaves as a good substrate for the cultivation of V. volvacea and the spent substrate as a viable ingredient in ruminant feed, Phirke et al (2001) stated that the Pseudo stem of plantain can be used for bio-fertilizer production and was supported by Kamira et al (2015) as a source of compost manure and Vermicomposting. Okoli (2020b) also asserts that every part of the Plantain pseudostem can be converted into useful products using some simple techniques and technologies in turning such Plantain wastes into valueadded by Plantain producers in Africa to generate extra income by creating lots of employment opportunities, especially for rural woman and unemployed youths, thereby improving their socioeconomic wellbeing.…”

“…Adeoye et al (2013) reviewed the significant contributions of plantain to the economic development and food security of both rural and urban households in Nigeria and outlined the need to understand the network, linkages, flow, volume and value added among the Plantain Value Chain actors. Despite several studies on the usefulness of plantains such as that Mohapatra et al (2010), Ojeniran et al (2018 and Okoli (2020a;b;c), there have been the concern of underutilization of some products of plantain and an assertion that some other potentials of plantain have not been discovered (Lekshmi 2018). In tandem with the study of Imam and Akter (2011) and Lekshmi (2018) that potentials of plantain based on the uses remain unexplored, limited and in-exhaustive, this study therefore explored the use of plantain trunks considered as a farm waste to grow vegetables in Nigeria as a source for additional farm income.…”

Banana pest risk assessment along banana trade axes running from low to high altitude sites, in the Eastern DR Congo and in Burundi

“…In Burundi, banana is the most widely produced crop, with an annual production of 1.7 million tonnes on an estimated production area of 208,603 ha in 2018 (FAO, 2019), accounting for 17 to 20% of arable land and about 45% of Burundian crop production (FAO, 2019). Grown on small areas around homesteads, bananas play a multifunctional role for banana-based households in the AGLR (Ndungo et al, 2008;Kamira et al, 2014;Ocimati et al, 2018a). In the DR Congo and Burundi, bananas contribute enormously to food security and nutrition of millions of people.…”