Tamil Nadu bananas may go global

TN-CII plan initiative to brand 32 varieties of banana to market it globally

Chennai:

The state government along with Confederation of Indian Industry is planning to make Tamil Nadu bananas a global brand on the lines of Florida oranges and Australian Kiwi Fruits and has conducted a feasibility study to strengthen the integrated cold chain for banana and create brand equity for the fruit.

Addressing a press conference B Thiagarajan, convenor of Agriculture and Food Processing Panel, Confederation of Indian Industry and president of Blue Star and Purushothaman Ravichandran, chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry Tamil Nadu Banana festival said as part of this initiative the first edition of two-day ‘CII Tamil Nadu Banana Festival 2012’ would be held at Chennai Trade center from December 21.

He said the Banana festival is likely to be inaugurated by state agriculture minister S Damodaran and the feasibility report would also be released during the occasion. Agriculture secretary Sandeep Saxena and director of commisionerate of horticulture and plantation crops Dr Santosh Babu are also likely to attend the event.

He said that the event is organized with the support of state government, Banana Growers Associations, Research and Development institutions and would have interactive and demonstrative exhibition of equipments, innovative technologies including cold chain and banana crop varities.

Thiagarajan said that Tamil Nadu produces 28 per cent of total bananas in the country and a total of Rs 6,000 crore worth bananas get wasted. The need of the hour is to have supply chains across the state and also make the farmer a stakeholder in promoting the brand so that he could also get a better price for the product. he said only 10 per cent of bananas go through proper ripening and 90 per cent lack proper ripening method.

He said the initiative by the state horticulture department along with CII is also to convert farmers into entrepreneurs besides creating a brand for bananas from the state. The state produces 32 varieties of bananas in the state and people outside the state are unaware of the brands due to lack of marketing.

He also highlighted that the biggest issue is to bridge the corporate sector-farmer trust deficit and CII is working out a plan where farmers could also prosper along with corporates in getting a good deal with the strengthening of supply chain.

Currently, the study has zeroed in on six model locations. These include Erode, Coimbatore, Thoothkudi, Theni-Madurai belt, Trichy and Tiruvanamalai. Interestingly, there are plans to have stickers on the product like those of Florida Organges or Californian apples to market it outside.

Thiagarajan said this is part of the Vision 2023 initiative outlined by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa where she stressed on Rs 11,000 crore intiative to boost infrastructure of the state by setting up cold chains so that agricultural commodities doesn’t get wasted.

He said through this initiative the per capita income of farmers would rise along with the GDP of the state.