As part of the socio-economic support program for the project influence zone of the Kikot-Mbebe Hydroelectric Development, practical training on early sucker removal (eyeletonnage) of plantain bananas was organized in the village of Ndomnjengue on April 22, 2026. This training drew on the educational resources of the FABA project (Agricultural Training for Plantain Bananas in Africa), tools that not only demonstrate the technique but also provide farmers with a powerful self-learning support system.
Early sucker removal consists of regularly removing excess suckers (offshoots) around the mother plants to concentrate the banana plant's sap on fruit production. This practice, which must be carried out carefully to avoid damaging the plant, improves production quality and accelerates the second-cycle harvest. Participants also learned to distinguish between a sucker to be removed and a successor sucker to be kept, an essential step for correctly planning sucker removal.
The beneficiaries expressed their gratitude for this training, which complements the My.COOP module delivered a month earlier. Indeed, structuring local communities into cooperatives which provides better bargaining power, group access to inputs, and more profitable collective marketing, truly makes sense when producers master advanced cultivation techniques such as early sucker removal, capable of boosting their plots' productivity.
