BANANA
- AGRICULTURE
News:
India aims at $1 billion
fresh banana exports in next 5 years
What's
in the news?
●
With the successfully export of a trial
shipment of fresh bananas to the Netherlands through sea route, India is now
aiming at increasing the exports of this fruit to $1 billion in the next five
years.
Key
takeaways:
●
India
is the world's largest banana producer.
●
Despite this, India’s global export share
is just 1%, though the country accounts for 26.5% of the world’s production.
●
India’s
banana export destinations extend beyond the Middle East, with potential opportunities
in major global players like the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, China, the
Netherlands, the UK, and France.
Banana:
Agro-climatic
requirements:
●
Banana, basically a tropical crop, grows
well in a temperature range of 15ºC –
35ºC with relative humidity of 75-85%.
Soil:
●
Deep,
rich loamy soil with pH between 6.5 – 7.5 is most
preferred for banana cultivation.
●
Saline solid, calcareous soils are not
suitable for banana cultivation.
Varieties:
●
There are some 12-15 varieties of bananas
in India.
Production:
●
India produces about 29 million tonnes of
bananas every year, followed by China with 11 million.
●
Andhra
Pradesh is the largest banana-producing state in India, with
a share of 16.27% followed by Maharashtra.
Nutritive
value:
●
Bananas have 10-20 mg of calcium, 36 mg of
sodium, 34 mg of magnesium and 30-50 mg of phosphorus per 100 g of edible
material.
●
Its peel is of use as a ‘biochar,’ which is used both as a
fertilizer and to generate electricity.
○
Biochar is a charcoal-like substance
that’s made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes
(also called biomass) in a controlled process called pyrolysis.