Banana is one of the most common fruits and it is practically eaten the world over. They are grown in at least 120 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for their fibre, banana wine and in some countries as ornamental plants.
In 2013 bananas were fourth among the main world food crops after rice, wheat and maize. There is not much to distinguish banana from plantains and
is the world’s leading
Of the 150 million tones,
30 million and thus she shares twenty per cent of the world production.
exports only a negligible percentage as a majority of the fruits is consumed within
the country itself. India
Banana (Musa sp.) is the second most important fruit crop in
next to mango. It is available
year around, affordable, varietal in taste, nutritive and also has medicinal and
religious value. No wonder, it is a favourite among all classes of people. India
It is generally believed that bananas originated in south east Asia, including
. The National Horticulture
Board says bananas accounts for 13 per
cent of the total area cultivated and constitute 33 per cent of the production
of fruits. India
Banana production is highest in
Maharashtra (3924.1 thousand tones)
followed by Tamil Nadu (3543.8 thousand tonnes). This year, Tamil Nadu has
overtaken Maharashtra in banana production. However,
Maharashtra has the highest productivity of
65.70 metric tones /ha as against national average of 30.5 tonnes/ha. It
accounts for 25 per cent of the national production. The other major banana
producing States are Karnataka (1277 thousand tonnes), Gujarat (1154), Andhra
Pradesh (1111), Madhya Pradesh (736) and (605). Assam
has given a lot of importance for banana cultivation. It has also set up an
exclusive cooperative for bananas and it is called MAHABANANA. The Agriculture Marketing Board of Maharashtra (MSAMB)
has established Mahabanana, the farmers’ marketing organization in 2002
with its headquarters at Jalgaon. There are 26 co-operative societies
registered under Mahabanana and each such member society has 300 to 350 small
and marginal farmers. About 8000 farmers have enrolled themselves as members
under the organization.
Mahabanana has initiated efforts for coordinated banana growth, cultivation, transport and export. The MSAMB has proposed to establish two modern packhouses in banana growing belt of Jalgaon and Hingoli respectively. The pack house includes automatic banana conveyor system, pre-cooling, cold storage and ripening chamber.
With the help of MSAMB, Mahabanana has taken up trial export of Banana to
last three years. As of now, just 0.05
per cent of domestic production is exported and the rest is consumed within the
country mostly as a table fruit. However, domestic marketing is largely unorganized.
The marketing chain from producer to customer involves four to five
intermediaries, thus denying the producer and consumer a fair price besides adding
to the marketing margins paid by the consumers. Dubai
Today, Jalgaon district has shown the way for the country in setting up a well organized banana industry. This has been achieved by adopting high density planting and single crop cultivation method. Besides meeting the demands for all the markets of Maharashtra state, on an average 12000 to 15000 wagon loads are transported every year to Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and
. Moreover, bananas are also transported
by road to Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Delhi
Though banana is the main fruit in international trade and the most popular one, ranking second after citrus in terms of value, main banana producing countries, such as
India or , are hardly involved in it.
Therefore, there is a lot of catching up to do for Brazil in the world market. India
Bananas are imported mainly by the European Union, the
United States of
America and , which together accounted for
about 70 per cent of world total imports, while the first ten banana importing
countries represented more than 86 per cent of total imports (considering the
EU as a whole). Markets such as the Japan Russian
Federation , or Easter European countries
are emerging now as destinations for banana exports. China
However, the low export is due to non-ideal post harvest practices, inadequate transport, lack of proper storage facilities and outdated banana handling practices .
Due to mishandling of produce about 25-40 per cent is being wasted and only 2 per cent is processed into value added products, the remaining being used in the raw form. This often leads to sharp variation in prices.
Moreover, there is no large scale product diversification of banana and only a few industries exists for utilising the fruits for dehydration, chips making and preparing infant foods. Processing of banana for preparation of derivative products is an emerging area today since bananas can be pulped, juiced or concentrated, canned, sliced and dried. Beverages such as banana wine and banana brandy as also vinegar can be made economically.
Apart from the Vedas, the first mention of the bananas is in Buddhist texts of 600 BC. It is mentioned as a highly nutritive food. The Buddhist chronicles describe a beverage derived from banana which the monks were allowed to drink.Travelagues of 327 BC mention that the Alexander the Great discovered the taste of banana in the valleys of