Banana wine, anyone?

Banana wine is one of the latest processed products of banana to enter the market. Like any new product, finding a niche market for banana wine is a challenge – but not in Malawi, where the large Catholic community has proven to be a very lucrative market.

"After we processed the banana wine, we were thinking who would buy it, and then we observed that they use wine in a Catholic mass, and so we thought, why not sell it to the church people?" Victor Mshani, a banana researcher at Malawi shared during the First Global Banana Uses Enterprise Workshop and Technology Fair held last month in the Philippines.

Malawi is not alone, nor is it unique. Elsewhere in Africa and in some parts of Asia and Latin America, 30 percent of the harvested banana fruits are squeezed to produce juice that can be taken fresh or fermented with sorghum flour to make banana beer and wine. In Tanzania, banana beer can be further distilled into a liquor called ‘gongo’. ‘Gongo’ has a very high demand, unfortunately though, the government declared it illegal as it is perceived to contain poiso-nous ingredients.

"The illegality of ‘gongo’ pro-duction needs to be revised. The livelihood of many small-scale rural farmers depends on this," Mgenzi Byabachewezi addressed this concern during his presen-tation of the status of banana processing business and their support environment in Tanzania.

Case studies, initiated by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, with funding from the Common Fund for Commodities and Rockefeller Foundation, were conducted in nine countries – Malawi, Tanzania, Cameroon, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Malaysia and India – with each country presenting the strengths and challenges of the many different types of businesses which process bananas and of the service providers which support processing businesses.

India exhibited the widest range of products out of banana–banana paper, clothes, slippers, bags, baby food, puree, juice, wine, chips, banana halva, bajji, figs–name it, and the product development unit of the National Research Centre for Banana has tried producing it.

"I was very impressed with the innovative products from India," commented one observer at the First Banana Techno-fair held at the Cavite State University in the Philippines. "Brazil also has brought a lot of interesting products, this is the first time I have seen pasta made from banana flour." The techno-fair showcased the unique products of each country and promoted information exchange among the countries.

What happens next?

Given the wide range of products that could be produced out of bananas, the questions: "which products are marketable, who will produce these and for whom?" quickly comes to mind.

In most countries where the case study was conducted, banana chips surfaced as the most marketable product. This product is processed in small scale by rural households and sold in the local market.

"For the chips to penetrate into the export market, aside from packaging, the nutritional quality must be improved, especially if you want to export it to European countries," said Max Reynes, a food technologist of CIRAD-France.

According to Reynes, most banana chips have oil content higher than 0.5 percent. This can be reduced by choosing the right cooking material, limiting frying time and selecting adequate varieties, taking into account the asparagin content.

The Department of Trade and Industry in the Philippines ex-tends assistance to small and medium enterprises of banana chips, not only by regulating the quality and nutritional aspect, but also by promoting packaging technologies. Such is also the case in other countries.

However, for products other than chips, there is no defined marketing system and hence, wasting of produce is common.

Handicrafts, for instance, are only attractive to some tourists, but not among the local people. A support service is thus needed for these businesses to flourish.

"Another problem is that in most research institutions, for instance FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), a very low percentage of the staff is working on postharvest technologies, hence there is less assistance available to processors," Francois Mazaud of FAO said.

Developing relevant, easily understood and readily available information was seen as the key to solving this problem. Information should be published in a guide and in a website, and grouped according to raw materials, type of processing technology, new product development and support services available.

At the day’s end

At the end of the day, the question remains: what will be the contribution of these processing businesses to rural development?

In India, a single small business is providing employment to at least three to four persons in a village, with each village having at least one business unit. With more than 8,000 business units in over two states, banana chips business is the largest employment provider in the processing business. Chips business is also a source of income for several other business establishments like department stores, petty shops, sweet shops and bakeries.

Once a worker gets a few years of experience, usually he starts his own business and spreads out.

"This is where the concept of business development comes in. For a business to succeed, no matter how small it is, there has to be a business plan," Martha Istambuli, a business development specialist from Nigeria commented.

A highly perishable fruit like banana could be converted into shelf stable products and convenience foods such as chips and wine through research and development. With changing habits and new trade regimen, market reach could be wide and open. By increasing the processing of banana, not only the postharvest losses can be reduced, but more so, revenue and employment can be generated, paving way to rural development.

The mission of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP) is to sustainably increase the productivity of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings for domestic consumption and for local and export markets. INIBAP is a network of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, a Future Harvest center.