Best Fertilizer for Plantain Farming in Nigeria

August 5, 2022

The best fertilizers for plantain farming in Nigeria are NPK fertilizers and high potassium fertilizers etc. Plantain is a potassium hungry crop so you need a lot of potassium fertilizers to make your plantain crop yield well.

There is a misconception in Nigeria that you do not need fertilizers for plantain farming, this is totally false. With the use of fertilizers, you can significantly increase the yield of your plantain crop.

NPK fertilizer and potassium fertilizers like potassium nitrate, muriate of potash and potassium sulfate are the commonest type of fertilizers used for the growing of plantain in Nigeria.

The Best Fertilizers for Plantain Farming in Nigeria

The following are the best fertilizers for plantain farming in Nigeria:

NPK Fertilizers

The NPK fertilizer has nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as their main nutrients components. The NPK fertilizer is one of the best fertilizers for plantain farming in Nigeria.

NPK 15:15:15 has 15% nitrogen, 15% phosphorus and 15% potassium. This type of balanced fertilizer is usually applied as a basal in plantain farming. The NPK 15:15:15 has equal quantity of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

NPK 20:10:10 has 20% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus and 10% potassium. This type of NPK fertilizer is usually used during the vegetative stage of the plantain plants.

NPK 12:12:17 fertilizer has 12% nitrogen, 12% phosphorus and 17% potassium. This type of NPK fertilizer is usually used during the flowering and fruiting stage of the plantain crop.

Potassium Nitrate

Potassium nitrate (KNO₃) is a soluble fertilizer that supplies potassium and nitrogen in nitrate form to plants. Potassium nitrate is one of the most effective potassium fertilizers plantain farmers can use.

This fertilizer works in a way that it supplies nitrogen and potassium to crops in a synergistic manner.

Potassium nitrate has 13% content of nitrogen and 44- 46% content of potassium.

Muriate of Potash (MOP)

Muriate of potash also called potassium chloride is a high potassium fertilizer that contains potassium and chloride.

Muriate of potash has a 50% content of potassium. It is one of the high potassium fertilizers that is efficient and effective for plantain farming.

Urea Fertilizer

Urea fertilizer is one of the best fertilizers for plantain farming in Nigeria. To have a good yield in pantain farming in Nigeria, urea fertilizer must be used.

Urea fertilizer contains mainly nitrogen. The nitrogen component of most urea fertilizers is 46%. Urea fertilizer ensures that your plantain crop grows large leaves and also ensures that the plantain crop maximizes its yield.

Urea fertilizer can be applied by hand and it can also be applied through the drip irrigation system.

Diammonium Phosphate Fertilizer (DAP)

Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) is a type of fertilizer used for basal application in plantain farming. Diammonium phosphate fertilizer contains ammonium nitrogen and phosphorus.

The total nitrogen component of diammonium phosphate fertilizer is 18%. DAP fertilizer has 15.5% ammonical nitrogen, 2.5% total nitrogen as urea and 46% phosphorus.

Diammonium phosphate fertilizer can be applied by hand and can also be applied through the drip irrigation system.

Single Super Phosphate Fertilizer

The single super phosphate fertilizer is a phosphorus based fertilizer. It has a high phosphorus content and usually used in plantain farming at the initial stage of the development of the roots of the plantain plant.

The phosphorus content in single super phosphate fertilizer is usually 7 – 9%. It has a calcium content of 18 – 21% and a sulfur content of 11 – 12%.