Ginger Plantation 2

Fertilization for Ginger  

Ginger consumes high minerals/fertilizers quantities. Requirement of nutrition quantities change with the growth of the plant. Rhizomes absorb high nitrogen and potassium quantities and average quantities of also absorb phosphorus and magnesium.

Nitrogen is required for dividing more rhizomes, therefore nitrogen requirement is high during the beginning period of the growth which is 120-135 days from the planting. Ginger plants consume average 40kg phosphorus per hectare. Always remember to apply phosphorus fertilizers before planting ginger plants. 

Both chemical and organic fertilizers are good for ginger and it is better to use organic fertilizers as much as possible as it is good for healthy yield. If you use organic fertilizers, 20-30 tons per hectare is enough. 

If the pH value is below 5, it is advisable to use dolomite to maintain the pH value. 1-2 tons per hectare is usually enough in this case. please make sure not to mix dolomite and chemical fertilizers together. 

General fertilization schedule per hectare is mentioned below. 

• Before Planting - Super Phosphate 100kg 
• 45 Days after - Potassium chloride 40kg, Urea 80kg
• 90 Days after - Potassium chloride 40kg, Urea 80kg

Pests, Insects, and Treatments

Ginger has less insect and diseases comparing to other cultivations. However there are few insects who can make considerable effect to the plants.

Shoot borer / castor capsule borer

Victim ginger plant of the Shoot borer attack

live in the trunk of the plant and destroy the plant by eating the trunk while living inside. you can see some holes on the trunk when shoot borers exists. Most likely to attack at the beginning of the cultivation when the plants are small. 

It is advisable to identify the affected plants and burn them to control. Use of 0.04% dimethoate will help to control the shoot borer problem. 











Rhizomes Scale Insects

These insects attack during the growth period as well as after harvesting. They silently suck the sap from the rhizomes and rhizomes get shrink and resulting low quality useless yield. 

To prevent the scale insect issue, you can wash the rhizomes with dimethoate mixture when planting and storing the rhizomes after harvesting. 

Harvesting

Eight months after the plantation, ginger leaves start to turn yellow colour and start drying up gradually. This is the clear indication to determine the harvest time.

Most of the time, ginger is manually harvested by simply lifting the clumps with a spade or a fork. The harvested rhizomes are separated from the trunk and thoroughly washed in water twice or thrice to remove mud on the rhizomes. 

When harvesting the water content is around 80% and it is important to dry them until the water content come down to around 15%. otherwise ginger is more likely to affect from fungus and other deceases. you can leave them to dry for a week under the average sunlight. On average the yield quantity per hector is 20-25 tones.

Harvested Ginger Rhizomes

Global Market Price and Profitability 

China is the world’s top ginger exporter while Japan stand on the world top importer of ginger rhizomes. In general condition, it will cost around 2500 - 3200 USD to cultivate ginger rhizomes in one hectare of land including labor charges. 

Ginger rhizome price vary between 0.5 - 2 USD per kg. Assuming 20 tons of harvest per hectare, you can earn average 20000 USD from one hectare per year. Total profit is more than 15000 USD. 

It clearly shows that the ginger plantation is very good commercial business to start and make more profit. 

Ginger Plantation

Ginger, the scientific name is "Zingiber officinale". The crops are widely grown across African, Asian and South American regions.  Ginger plantation has a relatively easy plantation procedure and has minimum threats from diseases and animals. 

Ginger plants - 6 month old

However, Ginger has lots of nutritional and extraordinary health benefits to humans. Below are the nutrition included in 100g of ginger. 

Nutrient	Composition for 100g of ginger
Sugar	0 g
Energy	79 cal
Protein	3.57 g
Dietary Fiber	3.6 g
Carbohydrates	17.8 g
Sodium	14.0 mg
Potassium	33.0 mg
Iron	1.15 g
Vitamin C	7.7 g
Vitamin B6 , Magnesium, Zinc, Phosphorus,

In both eastern Ayurveda medicine and the western medicine concept ginger is used as natural medicine for many health issues. some of common health issues which we can directly use ginger as a medicine are;

• Digestion Issues
• Nausea
• Pain reduction
• Inflammation
• Weight Loss
• mucus or phlegm

Ginger can be used to make many kind of products such as Ginger Beer, Ginger Biscuit, Ginger Powder, Ginger as a spice, Ginger tea, Ginger as a medicine ingredient, and many more products. Because of all of these reasons, value of the ginger is also little bit high and so the ginger plantation is good profit making plantation. 

Land and Environmental Conditions for Ginger Plantation  

Despite the variety in nature and generic composition, it is certain that all ginger types grow in the same soil and atmospheric conditions. Little warm weather, with humid climate will cause the crops to grow nutritious healthy.  

Sandy and clay loam mostly red loam are recommended, this is due to the fact that they are rich in humus. A farmer is also not advised to grow ginger on the same field  year after year .this may negatively  affect the growth of the newly germinated plants .when preparing the land ,the field should be ploughed 2 to 3 times to thoroughly to remove all unwanted rots including weeds. 

Ginger plant need good water supply, hence In regions where rain is scarcely, farmers have to use irrigation methods to provide sufficient water. If the farmer wants to do the plantation by using rain water best possible time is just before the rain season start. For asian countries like India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka this period is May to June in each year. Late in planting rhizomes will result poor yield. however little larger rhizomes will give good yield. 

In general gap between plants is 25-30 cm this gap is purely depend on the soil condition. Rhizomes grow near the surface level, and so it is enough to place the rhizomes 4-10cm deep when planting. 

Other important factors will be discussed in 2nd Article...