In Maharashtra almost 130,000 hectare come under Banana Cultivation and more than 50 % of this is in Jalgaon & adjoining area. Traditionally Banana was planted with suckers. The use of bulk fertilizers & flood irrigation practices were mostly followed by farmers. With all above farmers could get average yield of 13 Kg / plant  in 15 – 18 Months.

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd introduced Tissue Culture banana plants and  Micro Irrigation ,  & Agri advisory services through experienced Agronomists . s This brought about a great change in banana cultivation in the country. Banana growers could  harvest average yields of 30 Kg / plant and  continue to grow 2 ratton crops ( 1 Main + 2 Ratoon ) in 30 Months period.

 We report few experiences shared by Banana Growers .

A well drained medium black soil was selected for banana cultivation   open well  or  tube well as irrigation source. After a plough and rotavation farmer incorporates, 3 -5 trolley well decomposed FYM along with 100 – 150 Kg Neem Cake. Raised beds or Ridges & Furrow were prepared  at the desired spacing.

Well-acclimatized Jain Tissue Culture seedlings were planted on raised beds  at 6.5 Ft or 5.5 Ft. The drip irrigation system was installed mostly with double laterals of Jain Turboline with 16 mm diameter, 4 LPH discharge at dripper spacing of 40 or  50 cm. The irrigation & fertigation were done as per recommendations given by Jain Agronomist considering plant requirement of that area. In early stage of crop, field was maintained clean by 2-3 weeding as per requirement & timely removal of  baby suckers . Need based crop protection through spray of Streptomycin, Copper oxy chloride or Chloropyriphos.

Farmer wise cost, yield and gain from banana in one crop season.

SL	Name of Farmer	District	Area (Ac.)	Plant Spacing (Fts)	No.of Plants / Acre	Av. Cost of Cultivation (Rs./ac.)	Market price (Rs/Kg)	Av. Yield (Kg/ac)	Gross Return (Rs./ac.)	Net Profit (Rs./ac.)
1	D.R.Mali	Nandurbar	11	6*5	1452	94380	10.0	40656	406560	312180
2	T.M.Borade	Pune	1.5	7*5	1250	115000	10.0	40000	400000	285000
3	P.H.Mahajan	Jalgaon	7.3	5.2*5.5	1508	98020	6.5	52780	343070	245050
4	P.D.Deshmukh	Jalgaon	18	5*5.5	1584	110880	10.0	42768	427680	316800
5	D.R.Bhawal	A. Nagar	2.5	6*5	1452	108900	8.5	46404	394434	285534
6	A.K.Patil	Buldana	4.25	5*5	1742	137500	8.0	57486	459888	322388

 These farmers declared the net profit of Rs. 2.40 lakh/ac. to 3.25 lakh/ac. , highest income possible for an annual crop (11 month) in India.  These were  the result of good quality planting material of Jain Tissue Culture, drip irrigation and fertigation as per crop requirement. and the agri-advisory services of   jain agronomists. Now, these farmers are become advisors for other farmers and satisfied customers of the Company. They are not alone; we have in the last 22 years created highly productive Banana cultivation centers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat besides in Maharashtra.