Today we got the chance to tour a local banana farm. Being involved in the fruit farming industry myself I noticed a lot of similarities and differences between the two farms. Also, I had somewhat of an idea what we were walking into when we went into the field. Even though I'm not as knowledgeable on the fruit growing in tropical climates I was still super excited to learn more about how they do things here in Belize.
On the banana farm, the growers prune or trim the trees after they remove the bunch of bananas. Even though we don't prune our trees after every picking we do make sure they are at least trimmed back once a year. This helps the plant regenerate growth by cutting off the "suckers". Suckers can be branches, leaves, or roots that just suck up all the water and nutrients taking away from the plant itself. If you don't cut off the suckers the plant will suffer.
One difference I noticed between the two farms is how they distribute pesticides. The farm uses a plane that fly's over the fields distributing the pesticides. Back home at our farm, we use a pull behind sprayer that is attached to a tractor. Both methods have their own benefits but I don't think our farm would be able to use planes as a way to spray no matter how cool that would be.
After touring the banana farm I personally think it would be easier to grow one fruit than numerous ones like I do. We grow so many different types and varieties of fruits that we have to know a lot more about each individual tree. For example, I don't just need to know how to thin an apple tree I have to also know how to thin a peach or nectarine tree as well. Plus there are numerous varieties of peaches or apples that must be cared for differently. So the fact that they can focus on one type of fruit sounds more appealing to me( lol get it bananas, appealing? no okay). Don't get me wrong, I love fruit farming and I love my farm, but I do think the way they do things is less challenging.
Kryslynne Vroman is a sophomore majoring in Agricultural Education and Extension at Penn State University Park
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