Trade with Commodities: Banana brings peel-good factor for state

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Banana brings peel-good factor for state

MAHARASHTRA is gearing up to take a share in the international banana market, a produce regarded as the fourthmost important food crop in the world after rice, wheat and corn. Two export facilitation centres are being set up in the districts of Jalgaon, north Maharashtra, and Hingoli, near Nagpur, which are expected to be ready in two months. Meanwhile, the state government hopes to promote banana exports by encouraging contract farming and the use of modern technologies.
    Though India ranks No. 1 in the world in banana production and Maharashtra tops the tables locally, banana exports from India are negligible. In 2005, the global production of bananas was 73 million tonne (mt) while India’s share was 16.8 mt. According to an October 2007 statement by Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce, India accounted for 23% of global output, which is three times the share of the next country, Brazil. Maharashtra accounts for 25% of India’s banana production, followed by Tamil Nadu (20%), Gujarat (15%), Karnataka (10%) and Andhra Pradesh (10%).
    According to Mahendra Devare, manager, Mahabanana, an association of banana growers of Maharashtra, the state has 72,000 hectare of land under banana plantation, of which about 66%, that is, 48,000 hectare is in Jalgaon district alone. But only five container loads have been exported in the last few years, that too on a trial basis.
    The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) believes that India has tremendous export potential for bananas even though there is hardly any such export now. This is attributed in part to the absence of globally acceptable post harvest practices and transport logistics, lack of storage facilities and the like. Apeda has declared eight traditional banana growing districts in Maharashtra as agricultural export zones (AEZs), covering the districts of Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Buldhana, Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalna, Nanded and Wardha.
The water-intensive crop is expanding its area, outside its traditional pockets in the state. “The area under banana in parts of Pune and Solapur districts has been growing. From almost zero a few years ago, it is about 20,000 hectare today,” said Santosh Patil, deputy general manager, Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). “The handling and transport of banana is crude in India. It produces black spots on the fruit, which are not acceptable in the international market,” Mr Patil added.
The export facility centres coming up at Raver in Jalgaon and Basamat in Hingoli district will have automatic cabling systems, like a conveyor, for the mechanised transport of bananas from the tree to the vehicle near the farm, pre-cooling, cold storage and ripening chamber. Bagging the fruit during its growing phases will also be promoted, to protect it from mosquito bites, which produce stains.