Walk through a banana plantation in Madeira

Banana plantations on the south side of Madeira Island

Today we got to visit a banana plantation in Madeira on the south side of the island. 

Nature walk through a banana plantation in Madeira

Proximity to the sea, sun exposure,  mild climate throughout the year, fertility of the soil, the tradition of Bananeira and a unique irrigation system called levadas, make the bananas grown in Madeira absolutely delicious bananas, known for their intense flavour and aroma. Locals grow many distinct varieties that are eaten raw, used in cakes, mousses, ice creams and pancakes and even used to flavour rum.

The edible banana is a long elongated fruit (technically a berry) of one of more than 80 species of the genus Musa, of the family Musaceae. It is also one of the most important cash crops in the world, beloved for its flavour, nutritional value, and availability throughout the year.

Did you know that bananas (Musa species and cultivars) originated in SE Asia and that they are distant relatives of Gingers, Heliconias and Bird-of-paradise flowers?

Hang gliding above the banana plantations in Madeira

Bananas were imported to Madeira island from Asia and quickly thrived here not only on account of the suitable climate but also because of the rich volcanic soil. They were a lucrative cash crop that could be grown close to the European mainland which was important due to a short shelf life.


Bananas are fast-growing tropical or subtropical perennial herbs, upright 5 to 25 feet depending on the cultivar, grown from underground corms or rhizomes (a stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes).

Cross-section of banana trunk showing the series of overlapping stalks

The trunk of a banana plant is not woody, it is a series of overlapping stalks that grow up around each other forming a nearly hollow tube. New leaves grow up from the centre of the trunk, pushing older leaves outward. At the base of a banana plant, under the ground, is a big rhizome or corm; this is the plant’s root system.

A banana plant takes approximately nine months to mature and produce fruit 

Flowering stalk of Banana

Banana fruit grows on flowering stalks that emerge from the centre of the trunk. A long, tapering, oval-shaped purple-coloured bud emerges from the tip of the stem. The purple covering of the bud encases slim, tubular flowers in clusters of 15 rows. The first five rows are female flowers; then come male and sterile female flowers. Male flowers don’t appear until all the fruit has begun to grow. Male flowers take energy from the plant that could go to fruit development. Male flowers in the cluster open and pollinate female flowers. Female flowers with banana-shaped ovaries produce banana fruits. Commercial growers cut the male flowers off the stalk just below the last hand. 

Banana plants are heavy feeders and love to be planted into deep well-drained soil that is laden with compost and other organic matter including well-rotted animal manure.

Wooden supports to hold up the 30 kg bunch of bananas

Barring very few exceptions, each banana gives only 1 bunch of bananas, which on average weighs about 25 to 30 kg. The heavy fruit can cause the banana tree to break, so it is always a good idea to prop the plant to prevent it from falling over.


Commercial farmers cover the entire fruiting stem of bananas with a large open-ended bag once the fruit moves from being downward to upward facing. Not only does this prevent fungus from the jelly-like sap, but it also helps deter flying foxes, possums and birds from eating the bananas. 


As an added precaution, farmers protect the banana hand from swaying too much and to avoid any damage the fragile skin of the fruit - this drastically reduces the commercial value of the crop.


Nematodes, black banana weevils, mealybugs, red spider mites, aphids and thrips are the most common pests while anthracnose, rhizome soft rot, banana leaf rust, leaf speckle and crown rot are common diseases. 


Conventional wisdom says that once a banana plant has fruited it will die.  Before it dies, it sends up multiple suckers to take its place. Remove all apart from one or two of the strongest suckers. Ultimately keep only the strongest sucker to replace the mother plant. However, in Madeira farmers have realised that after the banana plants have fruited they cut it in half - allowing a second crop to develop in less time than it takes for a new one to grow. This can only be done one time.

Levadas of Madeira

Levada carrying irrigation water to the banana plantation

The Levadas (from the Portuguese verb “levar” – to carry) of Madeira are a system of channels or aqueducts 800 kilometres in length, mostly bordering mountains but also going through them, with several stretches over rugged rocks, to bring water via aqueducts from different sources to its intermediate or final uses including banana plantations. Every farmer has a designated time slot to divert water from the levadas to water his plantation.

The origin of the levadas dates back to the first settlements of Madeira Island, in the first quarter of the 15th century, when water became necessary to water farmlands, particularly sugar cane fields – the first crop of high economic value in Madeira – and for the functioning of the first mills and sugar factories. It is worth noting that in the second half of the 15th century, water carried by levadas was essential to Madeira Island’s becoming one of the largest producers and exporters of sugar in Europe, the “World” of those days.

According to the chronicles of the time, the first levadas were rudimentary waterways, short and dug out in the volcanic tufts. When the rock was so hard that the levada frame could not be dug, segments built out of wood from endemic species such as Madeira laurel (Ocotea foetens) or Canary laurel (Appollonias barbujana) would be used in the shape of a gutter.
With the ongoing expansion of farming operations, first with the cultivation of sugar cane, then later with winegrowing, and nowadays with the cultivation of bananas, the levadas network kept growing all over the island and its construction demanded more advanced techniques.

The early gave place to waterways built in basalt rock masonry, some of them being basalt cobblestone aqueducts. The most common cross sections were under one metre in width and the depth varied between fifty and seventy centimetres.

References:

1. Things to do in Madeira: Visit a Banana Farm. (n.d.). Portugal Farm Experience. Retrieved May 11, 2024, from https://www.portugalfarmexperience.com/blog/things-to-do-in-madeira/
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024, May 8). Banana : Description, history, cultivation, nutrition, benefits, & facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 11, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/plant/banana-plant
3. Permanent Delegation of Portugal to UNESCO. (2017, January 31). Levadas of Madeira Island. UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved May 11, 2024, from https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6230/