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As a part of horticulture promotion Agriculture Ministry is arranging a Banana Festival and Conference from 4-6 August 2005, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) and Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) are jointly organizing the festival. Banana farmers from across the country, banana processing industry, traders and other related sectors will participate in the festival. The event will also have conferences, competitions and banana food festivals to highlight the importance of banana. Shri Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture will inaugurate the Festival.
The Festival is mainly targeted to provide national as well as global audience for Banana. The banana farmers at the festival and conference, would get exposure to various new varieties of the crop, which would suit to their local conditions and post harvest methods and techniques. Farmers would also be helped to devise effective marketing strategies based on new developments and demands at the festival. The Organisers are also making arrangements to facilitate commercialization of banana for its rich nutritional, medicinal values, handicraft small-scale industrial and various other uses. The festival also provides a platform to explore possibilities of trade with international buyers.
India, with its rich bio-diversity of banana and plantain, is the largest producer and consumer in the world with estimated production of 16 million tones of bananas annually. India’s domestic production alone exceeds the entire world trade. It contributes more than 2.8 per cent to GDP of agriculture in India and provides livelihood and security to millions of people in primary production, trade and processing.
Only 13 per cent of banana production in the world is exported. In the developing world banana is the most important food in terms of production value after rice, wheat and maize. Most banana farmers subsist on very limited margins due to lack of proper marketing linkages amid its perishable nature.
Govt Of Kerala, National Horticulture Board, Agricultural and Processed food Export Development Authority (APEDA), Information Network for Farm and Farming Systems Economics (INFARM), Association for the Improvement in Production and Utilization of Banana (AIPUB) and Banana Growers Association of India are key organizers of Banana Festival and Conference.
UM:HK:bananafestive:3.08.05
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