Would North Africa be a good place to cultivate Bananas?

Posted by fedy_akahaw on 14 Feb 2013 10:09

I live in North Africa and exactly in Tunisia. In my country I only saw Banana plants producing little fruits and do not seem interesting for commercial production. But what I think is that our climate allows us to cultivate many other varieties.

Our Climate is Mediterranean, temperature is between 30°C and 40°C during the summer , 10°C and 20°C during the winter (we may have some cold days but not for long period), Spring and Autumn are temperate (about 20°C-30°C).

Here's a link on Wikipedia for more information about Mediterranean/Subtropical climate ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate|Mediterranean Climate))

What kind of Musa do you think it will be compatible the most with this climate? is it interesting for commercial production ?

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Posted by Inge Van den Bergh on 14 Feb 2013 16:17

Dear Fedy,

There are two Acta proceedings on banana production in the subtropics: http://www.ishs.org/ishs-book/490 and http://www.ishs.org/ishs-book/928.

The last one has an article on banana varieties in the subtropics, written by Daniells and O'Keefe: http://www.ishs.org/ishs-article/928_6

You can also look for publications on banana production in the subtropics in Musalit.

Regards, Inge

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