Post Harvest

Post harvest and marketing banana

In this research area, the National Banana Research Program (NBRP) looks at different ways of adding value to banana and plantains and ensuring that as much as possible of that value remains with farmers and their communities.

Although bananas and plantains are often grown as a staple food for home consumption, they are also considered as a commodity with economic value. Farmers sell their production by quantity, without major price differentiation for quality, and have very little control over the price that they receive at the farm gate, by the side of the road or in the local market. Middle players, usually organized in informal networks or chains, some times are involved in moving the commodity from the site of production to the ultimate consumer. Each player provides some service - such as grading, transportation, ripening or processing - that renders the commodity more valuable to the next player in the chain. These transactions are governed by informal or formal rules that have evolved since the demand for bananas and plantains has been on increase. The rules are also instituted by the players themselves.

NBRP team, working with several partners and regional networks, has identified several strategic areas for research and development in bananas that can be focused on so that added value to bananas can be realised. These areas are of major importance to farmers, because they improve livelihood of communities.

Processing to add to rural development
Processing bananas into diverse products with a longer shelf life such as chips, flours and beverages has been proposed as a way of absorbing seasonal surpluses and low grade production, and thus increasing and stabilising farmers' incomes.

A preliminary survey in 2004 of banana processing trade carried out by NBRP with Makerere University and IITA in Uganda validated some simple analytical tools for use by multi-disciplinary teams, profiled successful businesses and identified the challenges to setting up processing businesses for rural development.

Marketing fresh fruit for greater value
Value can be added to fresh fruit by grading, sizing, ripening or packaging the fruit in appropriate ways. Farmers can also achieve higher returns by targeting their maximum production to seasons of the year when higher prices are expected.

For example Sukali Ndizi a dessert banana has a relatively large market locally with low prices, but commands higher prices internationally. NBRP is seeking to use guaranteed production techniques which have been proved else where to add value.

Bioversity Conservation

The East African highland bananas (Musa spp. cv. EA-AAA), the most important staple food in Uganda, are susceptible to a range of pests and diseases. This has been attributed to a narrow genetic base of this banana group and thus the need to create a wide genetic base through development of resistant cultivars. The use of genetic transformation (engineering) approach has been identified as a potential option that could be utilised to facilitate and/or enhance the process of developing resistance cultivars. The objective is to establish an in vitro regeneration system for East African (EA-AAA) highland bananas. Cell suspensions are the material of choice for genetic transformation because of their regeneration capacity through somatic embryogenesis

Marketing

For the domestic Ugandan markets, price and income elasticities for fresh product of Matooke, are low. Productivity increases are not likely to yield revenue increases for farmers but will rather crash prices on markets, at least in the short term. This is attributed to poor market structure, especially brokers who buy bunches at the farm gate and the resulting conduct like re-negotiation of prices, default in payment, all yielding in uneven distribution of market revenues. Farmers obtain only 17 % of the retail price per bunch of banana, whereas the rest goes to agents (14 %), brokers (13 %), wholesalers (13 %) and retailers (16 %). Transport costs account for about 15 % of the consumer price and thus for about 80 percent of the whole costs.

Despite the fact that Uganda holds the second rank in banana production as per international market is concerned, it ranks 40th in total banana exports. Uganda ranks first in 'plantain' production, yet holds an insignificant 16th rank in 'plantain' exports. In desert banana production, Uganda ranks 23rd, and 38th in trade .This indicates that Uganda exports much more desert bananas (1560 mt) than 'plantains. This low exports is attributed to its poor knowledge on international markets concerning potential trading partners, prices and quality aspects as well as regulations like the EU, Poor controlling and accounting, Lack of national quality control and certification bodies:

Market testing of improved dessert bananas

Samples of ripe bananas (Gros Michele, FHIA 17, FHIA 23, and Cavendish) have been tested with 124 traders and consumers. An MSc. student is estimating a hedonic pricing model for new desert banana cultivars. Trials are continuing in four markets in Kampala city. Preliminary results indicate that among the new varieties, FHIA 17 is the most preferred cultivar. However overall preferences show that consumers still prefer Gros Michelle compared to all available dessert bananas. The average retail price per cluster is UShs 1196 for Gros Michelle; 1256 for FHIA 17; 982 for FHIA 23. Cavendish commands the lowest price at 832 UShs per cluster (1800Ushs ~ 1$). Demand is increasing for FHIA 17 and FHIA 23.

Social Economics

The highland cooking banana (Musa genome group AAA-EA) is the most important crop in East African Great Lakes Region. In Uganda, production has expanded and productivity increased in the country’s southwest and declined in the central region where the crop has traditional roots. Analyzing crop characteristics and performance was imperative to elucidate the factors that have contributed to this change. Performance analysis helps to inform possible investment policies and strategies in the banana sub-sector for both regions.

Changes in economic conditions appear to have contributed to the shift in banana production from the central to the southwest. Specifically, increase in nonfarm farm income in the central region reduced farmers’ need for cash income generated from farm production. On the other hand, high food prices increased farmers’ need to rely on own farm production for household needs.

There was shift in resource allocation in favor of crops most suited to satisfying household food needs (e.g. sweet potato, cassava and beans) against crops that appear to be more profitable (e.g. bananas) when valued at farm gate prices. In the southwest, farmers adopted technologies and crop activities that were relatively more labour demanding, but more rewarding in terms of cash benefits. Specifically, bananas were adopted because they satisfied both the cash needs and food requirements of the farmers. However, a significant proportion of land (not suited to banana production) is committed to millet production to supplement bananas in terms of food security.

Communication

The National Banana Research Program makes use of the Participatory Development Communication (PDC) approach.

Participatory development communication refers to the use of mass media and traditional, inter-personal means of communication that empowers communities to visualise aspirations and discover solutions to their development problems and issues.

The communication team is tasked with ensuring effective two-way communication approaches, and presents a methodology to plan, develop, and evaluate communication strategies to address the following questions:

How can researchers and practitioners improve communication with local communities and other stakeholders?
How can two-way communication enhance community participation in research and development initiatives and improve the capacity of communities to participate in the management of their natural resources?
How can researchers, community members, and development practitioners improve their ability to effectively reach policymakers and promote change?

Source: IDRC website