A small working group would be formed to promote export of bananas, especially the traditional varieties and value added products of the fruit, said M. Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), here on Wednesday.
India was the largest producer of banana in the world, yet it had a negligible share in the global banana trade and exported the fruit to just about 15 countries. Banana export could be increased by reaching out to the United States and European countries. “APEDA will promote export of traditional banana varieties and GI tagged bananas to more countries. It will promote export of banana based value added products as well. A small working group comprising stakeholders will be formed to promote export of bananas,” Mr.Angamuthu said.
He was speaking at the inaugural of a two-day consultative workshop on ‘Export of GI and traditional bananas: Present scenario, trade opportunities and the way forward,’ organised by the ICAR National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) in association with APEDA here.
Mr. Angamuthu observed that traditional varieties are the country’s inherent strength and stakeholders should strive to market them to the world by ensuring better quality and packaging. He called upon scientists to identify gaps in technology, supply chain management and other areas and initiate appropriate remedial measures.
Addressing the delegates virtually, V.B. Patel, Assistant Director General, Horticultural Science-II, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said that so far Geographical Indication (GI) tags have been obtained for seven traditional banana varieties in the country and underlined the scope for increasing export of traditional banana varieties.
Underlining the importance of improving the yield and quality of traditional banana varieties, V. Geethalakshmi, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said precision farming techniques would help conserve water and targeted application of nutrients. The varsity will work with farmers’ producers organisations to identify the requirements and promote export oriented agriculture, she said.
Rajalakshmi Devaraj, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Chennai, called upon farmers to take advantage of the district export hub programme, which is to be implemented in 11 districts in Tamil Nadu, including Tiruchi. Banana was the product identified for promotion under the programme in the district, she said.
R.Selvarajan, Director, NRCB, said scientists of the centre have initiated inter-disciplinary action to include cutting edge production technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT and precision farming in banana cultivation.
C.Samayamoorthy, Agricultural Production Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Tamil Nadu, K.M.Indresh, Vice Chancellor, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, S. Uma, Principal Scientist (Horticulture), NRCB, and others spoke.
