RP still among world’s top banana producers

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – The Philippines has maintained its position as among the world’s top banana producers.

In 2000, for instance, it was the only Southeast Asian country that made it to the top five major suppliers of banana in the world.

It ranked fifth with 3.58 million metric tons or 6.1 percent of the world production, as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO).

India had the biggest share (18.9 percent), followed by Brazil (9.3 percent), China (8.9 percent), and Ecuador (8.6 percent). Indonesia ranked sixth while Thailand was ninth.

"The major products being exported are fresh banana, chips/crackers, and catsup," reported Dr. Jocelyn Eusebio, Joselito Payot, and Angelito Carpio of the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARD).

In 2000, fresh bananas constituted the main bulk of the country’s export, or almost 98 percent of the total volume exported (1.83 million MT) valued at $312 million, they said in a joint report presented at the "First Banana Asia Pacific Network Steering Committee Meeting" being held at PCARRD.

The meeting is organized by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP), Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), and PCARRD.

The report of Dr. Eusebio, Payot, and Carpio was among the 12 country reports presented at the four-day conference of top-level banana policymakers and scientists/researchers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The other country reports were those of Australia, Bangaldesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam

Also represented in the meeting were Taiwan Banana Research Institute (TBRI) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), formerly South Pacific Commission.

The major fresh banana importing countries are Japan (61 percent), followed by China (16 percent), Korea (eight percent) and United Arab Emirates (six percent), noted Dr. Eusebio, Payot, and Carpio, who are director, supervising science research specialists, and science research specialist II, respectively, of PCARRD’s Crops Research Division.

On the other hand, the exported chips/crackers reached 20,320 MT only and catsup, 1,440 MT. Of the total volume of chips exported from 1999 to 2000, 38 percent went to Hong Kong, 25 percent to Japan, 17 percent to Singapore, and 11 to the Nertherlands.

"The Philippines enjoys export advantage over its ASEAN neighbors in terms of production and marketing because of its proximity to the major importing countries and technological advances in the production and handling systems. This is primarily because the infrastructure for export has long been established in Mindanao since the late 1960s," the PCARRD officials averred.

They reported that the area planted to banana during the past decade increased by 22 percent from 317,108 hectares in 1991 to 386,503 ha in 2001.

On the other hand, banana production grew by 38 percent for the same period reaching a maximum volume of 5.06 million MT. Production is mainly concentrated in Mindanao where the biggest banana-producing area – Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao City, Lanao del Norte, and Misamis Oriental are located.

Despite the bright opportunities presented, the banana industry is also beset with problems. Foremost of these are the incidence of major insect pests and diseases, production systems/practices, and environmental problems.

Other constraints are lack of storage facilities; lack of awareness on appropriate handling practices by traders, especially in traditional banana varieties; and inadequate production/postproduction practices, predominance of subsistent backyard plantings, poor marketing systems, and lack of quality standard for fresh and processed products for saba, lakatan, latundan, and other farmer varieties.

The problems and constraints are being addressed, particularly by the research and development (R&D) sector.

Over the years, the PCARRD scientists noted, several technologies have been developed addressing the major concerns of the industry, namely; production of quality fruits, availability of disease-free platning materials, control of insect pest and diseases, reduction of postharvest losses, and new improved processed products.

They concluded: "Considering the research breakthroughs on banana derived from previous programs, current research thrusts are focused on S&T interventions that will help the banana industry maintain its niche in the export and domestic markets.