Banana Farming Reinvented
How Innovation is Reshaping Rural Livelihoods
Dr. Nimish Kapoor
Bananas are rich in essential nutrients such as potassium, vitamin C, and dietary fiber, promoting heart health, digestive well-being, and overall vitality. Cultivating bananas offers a lucrative opportunity, as high demand translates to stable income streams and enhanced economic stability. For farmers, bananas provide substantial financial benefits, with consistent high demand ensuring steady income and economic resilience.
Despite the numerous benefits of bananas, there are also challenges associated with their farming and business. The fruit is highly perishable and has a short shelf life, making long-term storage difficult. If not sold promptly, bananas spoil quickly. Additionally, after harvesting, farmers often discard and burn the banana stems, resulting in significant carbon emissions into the environment.
To address these challenges and transform problems into opportunities for farmers and rural agricultural communities, a dynamic social start-up, Pulivendula Banana Processing Cluster, was established in Andhra Pradesh. This start-up aims to leverage new agricultural technologies, support farmers with innovative cultivation techniques, and improve market access, ultimately fostering a sustainable and profitable agricultural ecosystem.
A dynamic start-up, the Banana Processing Cluster, is revolutionising the agricultural landscape boosting agricultural productivity, promoting sustainable rural development, empowering communities, and fostering economic growth.
The Start-up Saga
Shri Swapan Siddharth, the visionary Director of the Society for Innovation and Incubation Development, saw potential where others saw waste. Inspired by the Government of India's waste-to-wealth initiative, which aims to create a circular economy for sustainable agriculture, he embarked on a mission to transform the lives of banana farmers. He approached the Andhra Pradesh Food Processing Society with a ground-breaking solution.
Under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), Shri Siddharth presented his concept to the nodal agency, the National Institute for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (Ni-MSME), part of the Ministry of MSME. His idea was revolutionary: an end-to-end utilisation of the banana tree. The concept received enthusiastic support, and the MSME sanctioned Rs. 3.61 crores under the SFURTI scheme. Additionally, the Andhra Pradesh Food Processing Society contributed 10% of the funding and provided 1.5 acres of land to establish a common facility center for banana farmers, registering a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the farmers.
The result was the Pulivendula Banana Processing Cluster, a beacon of hope and innovation for 823 farmers. This common facilitating center, inaugurated on October 4, 2023, in YSR Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, marked a new era for the banana farming community. Shri Siddharth claims, "This is the first Banana Processing Cluster in the country that helps in end-to-end utilisation, acting as a guide and torchbearer for the banana farming community, transforming waste into wealth". The technology was acquired from the National Research Centre of Banana (NRCB) through technology transfer for manufacturing value-added products. Shri Siddharth noted, "A cluster expert organisation was missing to mentor and handhold the development of value-added products, and this start-up is fulfilling that gap".
The Innovations
Honey Dipped Dry Banana: Traditional banana varieties like Karpooravalli, Dwarf Cavendish, and G-9, known for their high sugar content, are ideal for making honey dipped dry bananas. Coating these bananas in honey not only enhances their market value but also creates a nutrient-dense food with a lightweight profile. This wholesome dry fruit is perfect for defense personnel and school children, providing immediate energy. Rich in essential vitamins and minerals such as potassium, manganese, copper, and magnesium, these dehydrated bananas support proper bodily functions. They also possess antiseptic properties, promoting healthy skin and bone health.
To produce honey dipped dry bananas, fully ripe bananas are peeled, treated with a 1% potassium metabisulfite solution, and then dried in either the sun or an oven at 50°C for 24 hours. The resulting figs are packed in polyethylene bags or other suitable containers, with a shelf life of approximately 3-4 months under ambient conditions.
Honey dipped dry bananas are leathery and have significant potential in the global market. Achieving high-quality dehydrated bananas requires an efficient, safe, and controllable drying method for commercial production. Various drying methods are used, but solar drying, as practiced in the Banana Cluster, stands out as a viable commercial option. Solar dryers are more economical than those that rely on conventional fuel and electricity, making them an excellent choice for producing dried bananas.
Banana Flour: Banana flour is made from mature green bananas with high starch content. The unripe bananas are blanched, peeled, treated with 1% potassium metabisulfite, sliced, dehy-drated, and then ground into a fine, free-flowing flour. This nutritious flour can be used in various food preparations such as bread, cakes, biscuits, health drinks, and baby food. It can also be blended with other cereal flours to make chapatis and rotis. Easily digestible and possessing medicinal properties, banana flour can be stored for up to a year under cool, dry conditions without any adverse changes in composition.
Produced by dehydrating raw banana slices in a hot air oven or solar dryer and then pulverising them, green banana flour is rich in resistant starch, fiber, and minerals. It serves as a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour, supported by dietary trends like paleo and recent nutritional research. With a texture similar to lighter wheat flours, it has a mild banana flavor when raw and an earthy flavour when cooked, requiring 25% less volume than wheat flour.
As a grain-free source of complex carbohydrates, banana flour helps regulate appetite, prevent overeating, and support weight loss. Loaded with resistant starch and prebiotic fiber, it promotes gut health, increases satiety, lowers pH levels, and reduces cell damage. Its superior thermal characteristics allow for shorter cooking times compared to other flours. Additionally, a blend of malted maize, milk solids, soybean, roasted groundnut flour, and unripe green banana flour is a highly recommended healthy food option.
Banana Powder: Banana powder is prepared from fully ripe banana fruits after peeling, pulping, homogenising and spray drying at a temperature of 30-32° C and less than 30% relative humidity. It can also be produced using drum drier where the temperature should not exceed 94°C. The moisture content of final product should be around 2-4%. This product has high market value as it is extensively used in the confectionery industry, ice cream preparations and baby food making. When suitably packed, it will have a shelf life of more than 6 months.
Banana Core Stem Juice: Banana central core stem is used in various ayurvedic and siddha formulations to cure kidney related disorders, worms in intestine, diseases related to mental health, burn injuries and wounds. The phenol, flavonoids and antioxidant activities are known to be higherin it. Central core stem of banana contains up to 92-94% of moisture. Hence a simple extraction or mechanical crushing can give maximum yield of banana stem juice. By producing the banana core stem juice and banana fibre the total waste is controlled and the revenue has generated that benefits the farmers cultivating banana. Not only the revenue but also the carbon footage causing damage to the environment can be controlled tremendously.
Banana Fibre: Banana fibre is extracted from the sheath of banana’s pseudo stem by hand or machine. The natural fibre has multifaceted uses in preparing many value added products of handicraft items such as table-mat, bag, wall hangings and other fancy articles, ropes, craft paper, etc. The fabric made from banana fibre is soft and supple. It may not be as smooth as rayon or cotton, but it has a natural shimmer. It makes the material look like silk. Banana fibre in clothing feels comfortable and does not trigger any allergies.
A farmer or an entrepreneur can earn additional income up to Rs.10,000/- with banana fibre from one acre of banana cultivation. The scutcher waste as a by-product can also be utilised for making vermicompost. The Banana fibre extraction machines will be given to the farmers on rental basis, this model is proposed for reducing the transportation cost. As to extract huge amount of fibre
the extraction process is preferred to be done in the farm itself. After extracting the banana from the banana stem the farmers are benefited by producing the banana fibre from the waste, so this waste management can help the banana farmers to generate the revenue not only from the banana fruit but also the waste produced in the farm from the banana stems.
Banana Stem Sheath Plates and Cups: The banana stem sheath was separated, washed and cleaned in spring water, then heat-pressed into desired shapes and sun dried to harden. In this process the dried stem sheaths are pressed under the hot molds. When the plate cools down it hardens to a form, which can endure even a harder than original material.
Banana fibres have great potentialities for papermaking because of their high alpha-cellulose and lignin content. These fibres have excellent tensile strength which makes them strong fibres. They have low elongation and lightweight. They possess strong moisture absorption quality.
The CFC of a banana processing cluster emerges as a pivotal solution to the myriad challenges faced by banana farmers. This innovative approach not only mitigates post-harvest losses and enhances the value chain but also fosters economic resilience within farming communities. By integrating modern processing technologies and fostering collaborative networks, the cluster model promises to transform banana farming from a subsistence activity into a thriving commercial enterprise. The success of this initiative will serve as a testament to the power of strategic innovation in agriculture, offering a scalable blueprint for tackling similar challenges in other sectors.
Pulivendula Banana Processing Cluster
The Pulivendula Banana Processing Cluster is creating a comprehensive system for the end-to-end utilisation of bananas and banana plants. By processing the banana and its stem to produce value-added products and utilising wasted raw material, the cluster is helping farmers create secondary sources of income. Fibre machinery is being promoted directly to the farms to reduce transportation costs for fibre extraction from the stem. The cluster also focuses on manufacturing nutritional products like dry bananas, banana powder, and stem juice. Furthermore, the Common Facility Centres (CFC) of the cluster train women artisans in utilising banana fibre to make value-added products. This innovative approach not only enhances agricultural productivity but also drives sustainable rural development, empowering communities and fostering economic growth. The Pulivendula Banana Processing Cluster stands as a testament to the power of innovative thinking and collaboration in transforming challenges into opportunities.
(The author is a science communication specialist. Feedback on this article can be sent to feedback.employment news@gmail.com)
Views expressed are personal.