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The world's favourite fruit |
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All over the tropics, people grow a feast of bananas that the rest of the world never sees! There is more to the banana than the Cavendish banana plucked from obscurity in the 1950s to become the industry standard. Although the export banana is grown in large monocultures and appears in supermarkets all around the world, it accounts for one in eight… or 13% of the some 100 million tonnes of bananas produced each year.
A herb disguised as a tree
Bananas do not grow on trees. The banana plant is a herb. What looks like a trunk is actually a false stem, a pseudostem, made from the overlaying of leaf sheaths.
A care-free crop
Bananas are popular with farmers because they are easy to grow and do not need to be replanted each season. They are the backbone of food and income security. India, the world’s largest producer, grows as many bananas annually as the rest of the world produces for export.
A fundamental food
Because bananas are always in season, they provide a continuous source of food between other crop harvests.
The growers
The majority of bananas are grown in home gardens or farms of one hectare or less. Caring for the subsistence crop is often the responsibility of women while men attend to the cash crop.
A source of well-being
Bananas are packed with energy and they are one of the best-known sources of potassium, a mineral essential for the proper functioning of the heart and other muscles. Yellow- and orange-fleshed bananas are also good sources of precursors of vitamin A, a micronutrient vital for good health.
A versatile fruit
The banana is widely known as a sweet fruit to be eaten raw, but many varieties are fried, roasted, juiced, dried or chipped to make healthy and affordable snacks and street foods.
An all-purpose plant
Products made from the different parts of the plant are also a much needed source of income. Banana fibre extracted from the stem appears in paper, bank notes, ropes, clothes, wall hangings, baskets and hundreds of artistic endeavours. Banana leaves are also used to wrap anything and everything, but especially food.
A revered plant
The many uses of banana have been celebrated by people since ancient times. In India, the Hindus worship the banana plant during certain times of the year and use it to decorate shrines. |
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Why bananas matter 