Poor knowledge of techniques on storage and distribution is responsible for 30 to 50% of post-harvest losses in banana cultivation, said experts at a four-day international conference organized by National Research Centre for Banana here. Since India has attained the required volume of production of food grains and fruits, the focus should be on value chain management in banana to increase farmers’ income, they added.
NRCB is organizing the conference in association with Biodiversity International and Society for the Promotion of Horticulture, here to discuss the opportunities and threats faced by the banana industry and help them develop mitigating strategies. Though India is the largest producer of bananas, all of it is not consumed or exported. “Bananas should be handled with care like a child during storage and distribution. Farmers should be trained on these two techniques to minimize their post-harvest loss and increase revenue,” said K Alagusundaram, deputy director general (agriculture engineering), ICAR, New Delhi. Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been storing 74 million tonnes of foodgrains. To store this much volume, the government is spending a lot of money, he added.
Chief guest at the event Dr A K Singh, deputy director general (Horticulture Science) ICAR, said there was high demand for banana in western countries which were promoting it in schools.
Source: Times of India
