The Hindu Business Line : Sharp decline in banana acreage

Bitten by the failure of the monsoon for the third year in a row, the farmers in the traditional banana-growing belt of Tiruchi have abstained from cultivating the plant.

Only 60 per cent of the total cultivable area is under banana during the current season, informed sources told Business Line.

Of this, the area under the Nendran banana is understood to have slipped by 50 per cent from 20,000 acres a year ago to less than 10,000 acres at present.

While the drop is significant in the traditional rain-fed banana-growing belt, the Director of the Tiruchi-based National Research Centre on Banana (NRCB), Dr S. Sathiamoorthy, perceived that the plant was being raised in newer areas under irrigated conditions.

``Uncertainty looms large among the banana farmers over the yield prospects, quality and planting material. Planting season is over now. It ends in July,'' he said.

Dr Sathiamoorthy said NRCB was advised to take up research projects to find an alternative cropping season, newer areas and planting material etc as water from river sources was turning uncertain year after year.

Meanwhile, the prices of the banana are on the rise.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Sharp decline in banana acreage

Rubber rises

Teaserve sale fetches Rs 2.4 lakh

Gold prices rise sharply in Mumbai

Bringing cotton import disputes under Indian mediation — LCA to have another round of talks

Higher duty slapped on palm oils flouting norms

US agri major buys Prestige Foods' assets

Farmers: Distanced by globalisation