The government of Maharashtra has decided to disband MahaBanana and the Banana Growers Association of India — two agencies that promote the cultivation and marketing of banana. An announcement to this effect was made by Maharashtra agriculture minister Eknath Khadse.
Both these bodies have not been active for the last few years for want of funds, industry sources said. The problems of farmers have been compounded by the lack fo demand from other states and export markets inspite of bumper production. The two agencies are expected to be replaced by a corporation, the framework for which is in the process of being prepared, senior officials said.
Dyandev Mahajan, president, MahaBanana, said no funds have been coming from the government for the last few years because of which it had become difficult to run the board. The Agriculture Marketing Board of the state had established ‘Mahabanana’, a farmers’ marketing organisation in 2002 with headquarters at Jalgaon.
There are 26 co-operative societies registered under Mahabanana and each such member society has 300-350 small and marginal farmers. About 8000 farmers have enrolled themselves as members under the organisation.
“It is a sad decision. But if this will be replaced by another body, that will be good for farmers. Mahabanana has been working for the betterment of farmers and has helped bring in new practices which helped farmers get an additional Rs 50 per quintal. It has also been responsible for bringing in the box system of packaging and instead of artificial carbide ripening, introduced ethylene ripening which is much healthier for consumers,” he explained.
We will continue to bring in best practices and help farmers with new technology, he said. Ethylene ripening is even and does not cause dark spots on the fruit, he explained. Moreover, the erratic weather conditions have led to Karpa — a disease that has been causing damage to the crop, he said.
During the UPA rule, MahaBanana had managed to obtain a fund of Rs 90 crore for using pesticides and insecticides to treat the disease. However, there is not much awareness among farmers about this, he said. In countries such as the Philippines, a major banana grower, farmers spray the crop at least 22 times. In contrast, here farmers spray the produce just a few times as a result of which the disease persists, he said.
There has been a bumper production of bananas this season with little demand from other markets, he said. Around 55,000 hectares in Jalgaon, the main hub of banana cultivation in the state comes under banana with a productivity of 65 tons to 75 tons per hectare.
BV Patil, president of the Banana Growers Association, agrees and pointed outthat the demand from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab has been declining as banana cultivation is growing in these states as well.
Initially, bananas from Maharashtra were transported to these markets but now there is no demand, he said.
Morever, since banana is a perishable crop, farmers are forced to accept whatever rates are available. Banana is now grown across all seasons and is no longer a seasonal crop, he said.
Mahadev said that the export demand is also less and Pakistan remains a seasonal market. They export only when there is a shortage, he said. Pakistan has turned out to be a major market for the Jalgaon banana. Around 10,000 tons are sent to Pakistan annually. This season around 3,25,000 tons of the crop is expected to be produced.
Moreover, the extreme heat conditions across the state has led to early ripening of the fruit which, in turn, has led to farmers being forced to dispose off their produce, he said.
In India banana production is highest in Maharashtra (3924.1 thousand tons) followed by Tamil Nadu (3543.8 thousand tonnes). Within India, Maharashtra has the highest productivity of 65.70 metric tons /haagainst the national average of 30.5 tons/ha. The other major banana-producing states are Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. Now more states have begun cultivating banana.
India exports bananas mainly to UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. The varieties which are in demand internationally include Grand Naine and Cavendish.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) believes that India has tremendous export potential for bananas and has, therefore, declared eight traditional banana growing districts in Maharashtra as agricultural export zones (AEZs). Apeda has also opened a couple of export facilitation centres at Jalgaon and Hingoli. However, farmers have been shying away from these centres since the rates have been pretty high, a local farmer revealed.