Technological Innovations for Managing and Improving the Quality and Health of Banana Soils of Latin America and the Caribbean

The technological innovations project for the management and improvement of the quality and health of banana soils in Latin America and the Caribbean, financed by FONTAGRO, was implemented in four partner countries of the Fund: Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica. The main objective of the project was to improve the productivity of banana plantations in Latin America and the Caribbean, through sustainable technological innovations that allow increasing the quality and health of the soil. The project was carried out in two phases, the first consisting of the diagnosis of 39 banana farms in the region, which generated more than 25,000 quantitative and qualitative data from the farms analyzed. It is important to highlight that with this information it was possible to carry out for the first time a mathematical analysis that could combine physical, chemical and microbiological factors to determine the soil quality of the farms in question. The second phase of the project consisted of the implementation of the farm management alternatives aimed at solving the problems found in the diagnosis.