In this study we assess the potential role that the banana value chain can play in reducing poverty and eliminating hunger among rural and urban poor in Uganda and Tanzania. We provide a comprehensive analysis of banana consumption and productivity in the two countries and we scope the challenges and opportunities for providing more efficient and enhanced production and marketing focusing on smallholder enterprises along the commodity value chain.
To undertake this study we extensively reviewed published data and grey literature from national programs across the EAC and international sources to establish the best available information on supply and demand for bananas. But in view of the limited and unreliable nature of available data we undertook an extensive structured survey across the region involving producers, food vendors, traders (retailers, wholesalers), exporters/importers, consumers, institutional buyers, and key informants on banana productivity in order to better inform this study; together with an Experts’ workshop with representation from across the banana value chain.
Using these techniques we captured information on key variables such as varieties grown by different farmer categories, volumes produced, volumes consumed at home, main markets, volumes sold, cost of production, crop management practices, challenges faced by banana farmers, and information on demographics and consumer preferences – varieties bought by different consumers and reasons why, prices, where they buy from, volumes purchased, monthly banana budget among others.
We are aware of the growing importance of rice as an alternative staple in the region and so we offer a comparison of rice and bananas to demonstrate the relative importance of ea...
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...ndations that we draw from this study:
1) Increase industrial usage of bananas through promotion of value addition.
2) Support the development of banana-based enterprises.
3) Promote soil fertility management and water conservation in banana production.
4) Require a comprehensive banana value chain mapping and analysis to provide up-to-date data to provide benchmarks for the interventions.
5) Promote associations to enhance marketing and advocacy among farming communities (currently, producers are small and scattered, work individually).
6) Extend banana cultivation to non-traditional banana areas with irrigation potential.
7) Sensitize the public to seize the opportunities existing in the banana industry.
8) Direct development towards the universal Cavendish and the Matooke varieties in order to broaden banana production and produce sizeable spillovers.
When the outbreak of the Panama disease began the United Fruit ordered their field workers to put disinfectant on their tools and clothing in order to decrease the spread of disease. They burned the diseased plants, which took care of the infected bananas, but companies still had problems with workers transferring diseases. Spreading the disease was not intentional but it happened. This lead the United Fruit to begin research programs to fight the disease in 1923 so that it did not worsen. The US department of agriculture had argued the cultivation a disease resistan species would have a higher success rate, for example, the “Chinese banana.” This fruit has a short shelf life though and was not very marketable to be purchased. So the US and British research program both began breeding programs to develop disease resistant varieties, but sadly this was not successful either. It was difficult to find a product that would work, biology did not work, farms kept moving to healthier land, and this created schisms among companies and the government. The diseases were driving the production costs and soil exploitation up, fruit companies were already under public scrutiny for their land grabs and extensive holdings. They all needed a solution; the solution was when the Cavendish bananas began to be boxed in production, which then opened jobs for women. All of the bananas traveling to the
Rukayah Aman. 1998. Rare and wild fruit of Peninsular Malaysia and their potential uses.InM.N.B. Nair, Mohd Harmami Sahri & Zaidon Ashaari, ed. Sustainable management of non-wood forest products. 14-17 October 1997. Serdang Putra Malaysia Press. Retrevied from http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/AB598E/AB598E18htm#3743
John Soluri 's Banana Cultures Agriculture, Consumption and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States, (Which for spatial and repetitive purposes, I will refer to as Banana Cultures for the remainder of the paper), introduces the reader to a world of corporate greed, consumption, and environmental change using the history of the common, everyday, fruit, the banana. He explores the various political occurrences, health problems, and changes in mass media through the rise of the consumption of the banana in the United States, and around the globe.
Monsanto Vegetable Seeds is the world’s largest seed producer. The organization founded in 1901 with a chemical product Saccharin that has evolved over the past hundred plus years (Monsanto Vegetable Seeds, n.d.). The organization, always innovative has found itself in various businesses such as plastics, turf, pharmaceuticals, food, and most recently 100% dedicated to agriculture. A cast organization such as Monsanto has many facets; however, this paper will focus on the vegetable seed division (MVS) within Monsanto. In 2005 the firm primarily focused on corn, cotton and soybean seeds and entered into an entirely new domain of vegetable seed. While its previous product lines were primarily produced, distributed and sold in a relatively small radius, vegetable seeds embarked the firm on a complete new way to manage a supply chain whereas the products may be produced in Asia, cleaned in the U.S. and sold in Europe (M. Secrest, personal communication, June 20, 2011).
Even though bananas may simply look like a fruit, they signify a wide variety of environmental, economic, social, and political problems. The banana trade injustices in the global trade market, symbolizes economic imperialism, and the worldwide spread of the agricultural economy. Bananas are also number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the major profit makers in supermarkets, making them vital for economic and global food security. Being one of the many first tropical fruits to be exported, bananas were a cheap way to bring “the tropics” to North America and Europe. Bananas have become such a widespread, inexpensive grocery item that we often forget where they come from and how they got here.
The broad range of topographical elevations has encouraged agricultural expansion whose diverse production of food constitutes an important part of the Colombian economy. The agricultural sector contributed 14% of GDP, excluding coffee, with a production worth almost 11 billion US. In the hot lowlands of the Caribbean heartland, the inter-montages valleys, and the savannas of Orinoquia, there are immense plantations of bananas, sugar cane, rice, cotton, soybeans and sorghum, and large cattle farms that produce meat and dairy products. (Sited Dennis Hanratty)
The banana is one of the most important fruits with the average American consuming thirty three pounds of bananas a year. “Bananas became a commodity a little over a century ago”. As stated by Wiley “perhaps more than any other agriculture product, the banana reflects the colonial, neocolonial, economic nationalism, and contemporary neoliberal stages of the evolution of the evolution of the global economy”. Wiley contends that the fruits short shelf life shaped the global economy. When the Spaniards first introduced the fruit to the western hemisphere the whole plant had to be transported for propagation.
First, bananas are grown in large monocultures that enable the large-scale production but cause a bunch of environmental problems. Second, the large companies are concentrating on marketing and distribution. In this way, they exacerbate the situation of the dependence of the producing countries such as Colombia and create social problems.... ... middle of paper ... ...
World Food Programme. (2013). Comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis (CFSVA): Uganda. Retrieved from http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp256989.pdf
In this world there are many different types of challenges faced but individuals in different countries, as people work together to find a way to stop or solve these challenges there are also some challenges or situations that individuals, even as a group, cannot eliminate. The race to reach conclusions of situations is very desirable and is being worked on very efficiently, but one issue that people have mistaken into accomplishing is hunger. Hungry is present everywhere and not a lot of people can satisfy or fulfil that need. Lack of sanitation, unemployment, and unhealthy diet choices these are involved in an imaginary line called the poverty line. The idea of food banks is a good start into eliminating hungry but the process still has a
This is to declare that the Report titled “Market analysis of Packaged Fruit Juice Industry- With the special Reference to Dabur- Real” has been made for the partial fulfillment of the Course: Dissertation in Semester IV by me under the guidance of Prof. MV Narasimhan.
Even though the people on the island nation are trying to reduce the food wastage, various surveys that have been conducted indicate that more quantity of food is being wasted by them as compared to the last two years. The high wastage of food is not just bad for the economy but also for the environment (Graham-Rowe, Jessop & Sparks, 2014). Due to the poor utilization of proper quality food, the resources in form of fruits, vegetables, and livestock are getting wasted for unnecessary
Suarez, Danilo. "The Plight of Coconut Farmers." Manila Standard Today 28 May 2013, n. pag. Web.
Bananas are widely grown in Malaysia as it is highly in demand, it is ranked as the second largest fruit crops produced in Malaysia. Bananas are healthy to be consumed as it contains high vitamins and minerals (Ware, 2014). However, banana production in our country has decreased due to several factors such as the threat of various diseases, high cost of production and lack of diverse planting materials. Jong (2012) mentioned that around 50 % of the banana plantation in Malaysia is cultivated mainly for export, such as Pisang Cavendish.
Banana peel is under the category of Municipal solid waste (MSW). Mostly this waste is already a problem to the society. Causing a lot of troubles in terms of conserving the environment. In many developing countries, much of it ends up in open dumps, where poor people scavenging, finding items they sell for recycling or reuse. In 2008, the organization for the economic cooperation and development projected that between