Despite the perception that banana, a tropical fruit, cannot do well in places like Kano State, Alhaji Uba Idris Dogara Danhassan, has proved it is possible.
The retired civil servant, who worked with the Nigeria Customs Service, demonstrated what many see as a miracle, as he has maintained a banana farm since 1999.
His banana plantation located at Danhassan in Kura Local Government Area of Kano State, has been a centre of attraction to passersby.
The sight of the plantation, so lush, causes many to ask how the owner was able to grow and maintain such a huge banana plantation in Kano State.
A visit to the 3.9 hectares banana farm has indeed proved that the fruit can do well in the state as against initial assumptions that such fruits have no space in such area.
The fenced plantation is adequately guarded with many sources of water. Some of them are external while some are internal water sources.
Alhaji Uba said he started with fish farming after retiring from the civil service and in the process, he planted some banana plants near the fish ponds and realized that after some months the banana plant produced fruits that were consumed by the family.
He said he later took some of the banana seedlings and planted them using the fish ponds’ waste water to irrigate them.
The farmer explained that the proceeds from the few banana plants were what changed his perception and made him decide to expand to what is today a huge banana plantation in Kano State.
“I realized that with good management, one will make a good fortune out of banana plantation business. When my plantation reached 200, I began to conduct research on how to effectively manage banana plantations at commercial level.
“I read books, consulted the internet as well as explored various avenues to enrich myself with the required knowledge and skills.
“I also discovered that there are many countries where banana served as one of their major sources of income. I then set myself to explore the benefit fully, hence the establishment of this plantation,” he said.
The farmer further revealed that he travelled to a banana plantation in the Republic of Cameroun covering 10km by 10km and spent some days learning skills on growing banana.
According to him, if one followed the required steps in banana production, one wouldn’t have much challenge making profit.
With the success so far recorded with the Kano banana plantation, many people have ventured into it and Alhaji Uba is a consultant to such new banana plantations.
“A lot of people now want to establish banana plantations because they have seen how successful mine is.
“Similarly, I am currently a consultant to some banana plantations within and outside Kano State. This is to tell you that people need to see for themselves to believe,” he said.
Alhaji Uba’s farm is now one of the major weekly suppliers of banana to Kano’s famous Yan Lemo fruit market as well as a major supplier of banana to most of the state’s international supermarkets.
The farmer said he earns about N1m weekly from the farm and that life has been better than when he was serving as a customs officer.
He said the success of any farming engagement lay with adequate knowledge and research, adding that if he hadn’t done research, he wouldn’t have figured out that banana can do very well in Kano State as against the general assumption that only the West could produce it.
“My trials and researches have yielded result, as you can see this is banana plantation in Kano and it isn’t magic or any kind of miracle.
“This shows that there is a need for farmers to engage themselves in research for sustainable agricultural practice as well as effective financial capability,” Alhaji Uba said.
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