Big plans are in store for one of India's top banana-growing regions with the formation of the Tamil Nadu Banana Producer Company Limited.  Secretary Ajeethan Ganapathy tells www.freshfruitportal.com how the new entity has been put together to organize, collaborate and develop a potentially booming sector.

"We have been unable to reach the good markets abroad and domestically and it has been very difficult to compete against the Cavendish variety grown and supplied around Europe and elsewhere," Ganapathy says.

A banana plantation at a village near Tiruchi

He cites "very primitive" infrastructure as a hinderance for the industry, making it tough to reach export markets as well as cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta were banana prices can be quite lucrative.

"We need to work on our volumes because we need to be ready when a buyer or trader comes to us and wants our produce and on top of this we need to demonstrate commitment to being able to supply large volumes on a regular basis," he says.

"Alongside this we need the proper systems in place to reduce post-harvest loses, increase revenues and explore market opportunities. Without the correct infrastructure this is virtually impossible.

The executive explains how Tamil Nadu has been producing huge volumes of Cavendish alongside traditional Indian varieties - including the Red banana, Poovan, Rasthali and Karpooravalli - for many years, but has been held back by supply chain shortcomings.

This could soon be changing however, with the introduction of the government-backed producer company that so far has 40 'societies' consisting of 25 farmers each.

"Because of a lack of infrastructure we have been unable to supply our excellent bananas to markets abroad to countries in Europe, the U.K. and in the Gulf region. This has been a real shame because we have great bananas that consumers all over the world would enjoy," Ganapathy says.

"The U.S. market might be a little far off because we need to improve our logistics but we have the quality of bananas, we just need the infrastructure and organization to supply these kinds of countries.

"The average landholding of the farmers varies from around one hectare to four hectares. so this ranges from very small farmers to much larger production."

Currently there are sporadic export deals from Tamil Nadu to Europe. For instance there is a small quantity supplied to France that nets around US$1,200. For Ganapathy, this is a case in point.

"This is a small supply with a good return; something we want to maximize on. At present very scant exports take place and many big players do not utilize us.

"The potential of Tamil Nadu bananas is so huge and so is the potential to open profitable export markets, but we need to develop packhouses for instance and this will be a matter of discussion in the new company.

Empowering and educating banana farmers

A key aspect of the newly-formed group is empowering individual farmers by way of offering equity shares in the company. Collaborating with Narendra Modi's government, the Tamil Nadu company offers farmers equity shares worth a INR1,000 (US$16.28) each.

The government is also providing INR4.58 million (US$74,562) in funding over a three-year period.

"The Indian central government has come up with specific rules and regulations for a farmer producer company and is offering a lot of relaxation on taxes that will help the company and individual farmers. It has also given us seed money to run the company," the executive says.

"Once infrastructure gets better we will be able to showcase our bananas to traders and importers because our bananas are of excellent quality with great taste and aroma and we want to open negotiations with exporters to come up with a business plan, including supplying large volumes and working out a good price for everyone concerned.

The main objectives of the producer company will be to educate farmers to produce consistently good quality fruit, market bananas to a global audience, increase output, improve the supply chain by building packhouses and develop logistics to support the sector.

"This is about perfecting the system and the new producer company really is a launching ground for this. We need to set up a committed market because at the moment things can be so topsy turvy; sometimes farmers can get a decent price for their produce and at other times prices are at rock bottom or even worse, there are no takers.

"So by systemizing the whole banana business, we want to avoid these kinds of situations."

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