ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS OF CUT-AND-CARRY, AND ALLEY CROPPING SYSTEMS OF MULCH PRODUCTION FOR PLANTAINS IN SOUTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

Organic mulch is beneficial to plantain because it maintains soil fert ility, prevents erosion and suppresses weeds. Mulch availability is ho wever a major constraint. Mulching in a cut-and-carry system with Penn isetum purpureum Schum. (elephant grass) was compared with mulching wi th the prunings of Alchornea cordifolia (Schum. & Thonn.), Dactyladeni a barteri (Hook. f. ex Oliv.) Engel. (Syn. Acioa barteri), Gmelina arb orea (Roxb.) and Senna siamea (Lam.) Irwin & Barneby (Syn. Cassia siam ea) in alley cropping systems. Plantain in Pennisetum mulch treatment gave the highest bunch yield, but similar net revenues per hectare as the Dactyladenia treatment, while Gmelina, Alchornea and Senna treatme nts produced the lowest incomes. But when the land required to produce Pennisetum mulch was included in the economic analysis, the net reven ue per hectare was negative over three years of cropping. The returns to labour were also much lower for the Pennisetum compared to the alle y cropping systems. Among the in-situ mulch sources, Gmelina had the h ighest labour requirement because of the high pruning frequency. In ad dition, weeding in Gmelina, Alchornea and Senna treatments resulted in high labour demand due to the rapid decomposition of the mulch materi als leaving the soil bare for weeds to invade. Dactyladenia alley crop ping was the most profitable of the five plantain production systems s tudied.