- The National Banana Festival, 2018 is being held at Kalliyoor in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) between 15- 17 February 2018. The Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh inaugarated the festival on 17 February and highlighted the scenario of banana cultivation in India.
- Focal theme: Focal theme of the festival is ‘Conserving diversity, Preserving identity and Promoting value addition.’
- Organisers: The festival is organised by Centre for Innovation in Science and Social action (CISSA) in partnership with Kalliyoor Grama Panchayat and a host of National and State organisations.
About Banana
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- Banana is native of India and is widely grown in tropical, sub-tropical, and coastal region of India.
- Banana (Musa sp.) is the second most important fruit crop in India next to mango.
- Banana is referred as “Kalpatharu” (The Divine Tree of Life or Wish Fulfilling Tree) due to its mulfaceted uses in food and medicine and the fruit is well referred and reflected in our culture.
- Modern banana edible varieties have evolved from the two species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana and their natural hybrids, originally found in the rain forests of S.E.Asia
- According to the FAO data (2013) banana is cultivated in more than 130 countries across the world in 5.00 million hectare and yielding 103.63 million tonnes of banana and plantain.
- India is the largest producer of banana in the world with 29.7 million tonnes from an area of 0.88 million hectares with a productivity of 37 MT/ha. India has set a production target of 60 million tonnes in 2050.
- In India, Tamilnadu is the largest producer of Banana. It accounts for a third of the country’s total banana production.
- Although India accounts for only 15.5 per cent in area, its contribution in the world’s production is 25.58 per cent.
- It accounts for 36.6% of the total fruit production in the country.
- It is predicted that with ever-increasing demand, 60 million tonnes of banana will be needed to meet the domestic demand in 2050.
- World banana production is concentrated in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America because of the climatic conditions.
- Ecuador is the largest global exporter of banana (FAO).
- Production and productivity of banana has considerably increased with expansion of area due to interventions under ‘Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture'(MIDH), which promotes adoption of High Density Planting, use of Tissue Culture Plants and other interventions in Post-Harvest Management (PHM) infrastructure.
- So far, 11,809 pack houses and 34.92 lakh MT of cold storage capacity have been created in the last three and half years in India.
- Varieties: Poovan Nendran, Robusta, Dwarf Cavendish. Musa wild species and its allied species form an important source for resistant genes for biotic and abiotic stresses.
- Diseases related to banana: Fusarium Wilt, TR4 .
