We are creating additional value for Banana- How to develop Banana Fruit Supply Chain.

Do you know how to handle the Banana in the post-harvest period? Banana fruit is one of the major crops in the world. Statistical data reveals that millions of people have engaged in the banana industry as actors, from harvesting to marketing. Usually, Banana gives their harvest throughout the year to fulfil the marketing requirements. When focusing on the community's banana consumption pattern, it is widely used as a fresh ripened fruit among people without demarcating age limits. However, bananas are used as a raw material in the agro-based industry to produce different value-added products such as banana chips (dehydrated products), banana jelly, banana flour, and so on. Indeed, there is a massive demand for fresh ripened Bananas in the consumption pattern, especially for high-quality products.

The problem in banana marketing.

In the current scenario, many bananas are ripened by an unrecommended procedure like an injection of poisonous chemicals or spraying on the banana fruit to induce an artificial ripening. However, it does not recommend use to ripen the Banana. Otherwise, it gives a lot of health hazards when consuming such bananas. These bananas can rapidly decay within a short period at the post-harvest level, resulting in high post-harvest losses annually.

Develop a banana supply chain to minimize post-harvest losses.

To minimize post-harvest losses and supply high-quality banana products to the market, the whole banana supply chain can be developed by introducing novel post-harvest technologies. Farmers usually sell their Bananas to the middlemen at a satisfyingly low price. Still, farmers can also be entrepreneurs in the banana supply chain when they change their mindset and attitude. They want to change their way of thinking and their way of behaviour that they are existing. Once upon a time, Mr Nelson Mandalay said, "if you want to change the world for as better, education is the best weapon for that". Therefore, introducing novel post-harvest technology for the farmers and other stakeholders can be used to generate entrepreneurs in the agro-based industry.

Therefore, we will discuss each step to get clear ideas for the readers and change the banana supply chain. Generally, the Banana fruit supply chain engages different types of activities and actors as well. Harvesting, packaging, sorting, grading, artificial ripening, labelling, retail packing, and transporting to the marketing and marketing are the main steps of the banana fruit supply chain with different engaging types of actors like farmers, collectors, transporters, processors, wholesalers and retailers.     

Maintain the banana orchard well in Pre- harvesting practices.

When maintaining pre- harvesting practices of Bananas as well, it gives a high-quality product at the post-harvest level. Generally, the post-harvest stage can only preserve the quality until it consuming.       

Harvesting.

The banana harvesting stage depends on the marketing requirement, such as the local market, supermarket in the local or export market. However, banana harvest can collect by referring to the harvesting indicators, which give the farmers a clear direction on the correct harvest time. Harvested bananas can move to the packhouse to do further activities.

Sorting and grading.

In the packhouse, sorting and grading can remove the damaged banana fruits and low-quality bunch and grade the bunch based on various indicators. 1^st, cut each bunch of bananas and clean them using water. Here, disinfection chemicals can use as a post-harvest disease prevention method.

Artificial ripening of Banana.

Artificial ripening is recommended to supply a high amount of ripening Bananas within a short time based on marketing requirements. These processes induce the ripening process artificially under the air-tied environment. For most farmers, banana bunch pack into plastic creates or suitable packaging material and kept inside the air-bound area to expose to ethylene gasses for the recommended period. Generally, 12 hours recommend for banana fruits. When exposed to ethylene gasses, Banana starts their ripening processes. After 12 hours, the Banana should be moved from the air-tied environment to an open place and kept for another 2 or 3 days to complete the ripening processes.    

Packaging for marketing.

After completing the ripening process, banana fruits can pack for marketing. In this step, sorting and grading processes can again remove damaged and low-quality fruits. A high-quality banana fruit bunch can label to get high consumer attraction and provide more information about the Banana and its processing system.

Entrepreneurs’ opportunities.   

Finally, high-quality ripened banana fruits can taste for the consumers without distrusting the quality. These exciting and straightforward post-harvest techniques can use farmers and other stakeholders to become entrepreneurs in the agro-based industry, especially in developing countries.