Present State of the Production of Musaceae in Africa,
Asia Pacific and the Caribbean
Thierry LESCOT – CIRAD-PERSYST TA B-26/PS4 – 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 – Francia – Thierry.lescot@cirad.fr
Summary
The world-wide production of bananas and plantains (104 MT in 2006) has generally continued to increase with consumer demand proportional to population increase. However, imbalances exist in some countries with high banana consumption mainly in urban zones where high prices have turned this basic food product into a luxury dish (Cameroun, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti).
Four main types of Musaceae can be differentiated: plantain (AAB), others cooking bananas (AAB, ABB, AAAea, etc.), Cavendish (AAA), other dessert bananas (AAA, AA, AAB). The Cavendish group is the most produced type with more than 46 TM (44.7%) especially in the Asian continent, followed by cooking bananas (26.5 TM, 25.4%) also concentrated in Asia, plantains (18.8 TM, 18%) concentrated in Africa and Latin America, and other dessert bananas (12.3 TM, 11.8%) in Asia and Latin America. Except for intensive export production, 95% Cavendish, yields are generally low, between 5 and 12 t/hectares, well below their potential. The main obstacles to yield improvement are the use of traditional production techniques, an increase in pest and disease pressure, the underuse of modern production techniques for irrigation, pest and disease control and fertilization and traditional marketing chains which minimize price increases to growers.
Exports continue to grow slightly faster (16.5 TM, 16%, mainly Cavendish, 16 TM), especially with the commercial dynamism of Europe.
In Asia and the Pacific, production always follows the national and regional consumption. The Philippines, with its experience and infrastructure of intensive and quality production of Cavendish, remains the leading exporter to markets in Japan, the Middle East, Korea and China. India, world's leading producer (11.7 MT), is intent to export to Middle East. The threat of health risk to the tropical race 4 of the FOC from the south-east Asia remains strong, without major advances in its management. In Africa, few significant changes in production have occurred of importance for consumers. However, Ghana continues to increase exports of Cavendish and new export production from Mozambique and Angola with the support of the multinational "Chiquita" is planned for 2010. In East Africa the spread of Bacterial Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) continues to threaten production for national and regional markets. In Europe, the Canary Islands are still the main supplier of Spain, and Turkey has noticeably increased production for its national markets.
In the Caribbean, the production and export in the Windward Islands has declined with the end of exports from Grenada and have become oriented to fair-trade labelling and trade to Europe. However, volumes have increased in two ACP countries, the Dominican Republic which is the leading exporter of organic bananas and Surinam which targets the European market.
In Europe, despite the increase in the number of countries joining the European Union and operating under its import rules, Latin America has continued to expand as the main supplier (3.8 MT in 2007, 73%), while production from ACP countries (0.8 MT, 16%) and within the EU (0.5 MT, 11%) has continued to decrease. On the balance, internationally, there are few initiatives to strengthen research and development of bananas and plantains compared with other major crops.
INTRODUCTION
Worldwide production of bananas and plantains continues to grow (Figure 1), from 34 MT (FAO) in 1961 to 104 MT (CIRAD) in 2006.
Figure 1: Evolution of the worldwide production of banana trees and bananas.
0 20 000 40 000 60 000 80 000 100 000 120 000 19611963 196519671969197119731975197719791981198319851987 198919911993 199519971999200120032005 export Cavendish Other dessert banana Cavendish (local) Others cooking bananas Plantain AAB
FAO CIRAD
Source: FAO and CIRAD
This increase in production follows the demand driven by global population growth. Some national imbalances are found for AAB mainly in urban zones. Since the 1990s production has not kept up with demand, resulting in an increase in prices (wholesaler and retailer). In countries such as Cameroun, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti plantain has become a luxury food. Production can be differentiated into four primary types of production: plantain (AAB), other cooking bananas or other like drinks (AAB, ABB, AAAea, etc.), Cavendish (AAA), other dessert bananas (Gros Michel, Apple, Sucrier/Datil/Oritos, etc.; AAA, AA, AAB) (Figure 2). Figure 2: distribution by types of production (CIRAD 2008)
Word Production 17,5% 25,4% 29,4% 15,3% 11,8% 0,6% Plantain Plantain export Other cooking banana Cavendish Cavendish export Other dessert banana
Asia, centre of origin of the Musaceae, is the world’s leading producer continent, followed by Africa and Latin America (Annex 1 and Figure 3).
Word Production 35,5% 28,7% 31,1% 3,4% 0,9% 0,4% Africa - Middle east Asia Latin America Caribbean Oceania Europe
Cavendish is the most produced type with more than 46 TM (44.7%) especially in the Asian continent (Figure 4), followed by cooking bananas (26.5 TM, 25.4%) concentrated in Asia and East-Africa (Figure 5), the plantains (18.8 TM, 18%) concentrated in Central and West Africa, and Latin America (Figure 6), and other dessert bananas (12.3 TM, 11.8%) in Asia and Latin America (Figure 7).
Figure 4: Distribution of the Cavendish production (CIRAD 2008)
Cavendish 17,0% 55,9% 2,2% 1,2% 1,0% 22,8% Africa - Middle east Asia Latin Am erica Caribbean Oceania Europe
Figure 5: Distribution of the cooking banana production (CIRAD 2008)
Other cooking banana
54,7% 37,7% 0,7% 4,9% 2,0% Africa - Middle east Asia Latin Am erica Caribbean Oceania Europe
Plantain 56,9% 4,7% 35,1% 3,3% 0,0% 0,0% Africa - Middle east Asia Latin America Caribbean Oceania
Figure 7: Distribution of the other dessert banana production (CIRAD 2008)
Other dessert banana
44,1% 42,5% 0,5% 2,4% 10,4% Africa - Middle east Asia Latin Am erica Caribbean Oceania Europe
Except for intensive export production, 95% Cavendish, yields are generally low, between 5 and 12 t/hectares, well below their potential. For small holders who predominate production for national markets, the main obstacles to improved yield are, the use of traditional techniques, the increasing pressure of pests (especially weevil and nematode) and diseases (especially black Sigatoka, virus diseases, fusarium and some pockets of bacteriosis), the lack of means of modernization of production techniques (especially in irrigation and pest and disease control) and the marketing chains.
International trade continues to increase (16.5 MT, 16%; Figure 1), mainly for the important sub-group "Cavendish" (16 MT), especially thanks to the dynamism of the European market (Figures 8 and 9).
Figure 8: world-wide exports Cavendish 2006
Word-Wide Export Cavendish (2006 : 16 MT)
75,8% 13,6% 3,9% 3,6% 2,2% 0,9% Latin America Philippine Caribbean Africa Europe Asia
Imports Cavendish 30,2% 35,4% 6,7% 6,6% 7,8% 13,2% North America Europe (UE 27) Rusia Japan
Middle east + North Africa Others
Plantains follows as the second product of export/import but with much more low volumes (0,6 MT in 2006) (Figures 10 and 11).
Figure 10: World-wide exports plantains (2006)
Exports Plantain 87,9% 9,0% 1,3% 1,8% Latin America Africa Caribbean Others
Figure 11: World-wide imports plantain (2006)
Imports Plantain 47,0% 23,0% 13,2% 4,3% 1,6% 10,9% North America Latin America Europe (UE 27) Africa Caribbean Others
There is also a small volume of international trade in other types of Musa as "apple" (AAB), "sucrier/datil" (AA) or "red banana" (AAA) primarily from Latin America to USA and EU.
ASIA AND PACIFIC
As the center of origin for Musaceae, production in Asia and the Pacific is highly diversified (over 100 important varieties), primarily for domestic and regional consumption. The Philippines, with its experience and infrastructure of intensive production and quality of Cavendish, remains the leading exporter of the area to supply markets in Japan, the
Middle-East, Korea and China (Figure 12). An important threat to production is the loss of land due to the spread of urban areas.
Figure 12: Philippine Cavendish exports (2007: 2 TM) Exports Cavendish Philippine
38,7% 31,4% 13,2% 2,4% 10,5% 2,4% 0,8% 0,6% 0,0% Japan Middle east South Korea China New Zealand Hong-Kong Russia Singapore Others
India is the first world-wide producer (11.7 TM in 2006), with numerous varieties, but with generally a low productivity level. For the first time, India is initiating export of Cavendish to the Middle-East, primarily Saudi Arabia.
Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand export to neighbouring countries.
Australia is a major producing country with a competitive agro-industry and high yields for the national market. The technical services are very active and were able to monitor and eradicate in 10 years the black Sigatoka. Eradication of serious viral disease of the bunchy-top is in progress.
In the south-east Asia, tropical race 4 (TR4) of Fusarium (FOC) is a serious plant health risk It appeared first in 1990 in Taiwan and somewhat later in Sumatra (1992), Malaysia (1994 ), and Australia, China, the Philippines, Irian Jaya (end 1990s). No major advances have been made in its control (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Current distribution of tropical race 4 of the FOC in the south-east Asian
No significant changes in production have occurred in Africa where consumers prefer banana AAA of East Africa (AAea), both for cooking and for "beer" and plantains in Central and West Africa, with more than one hundred cultivars. Production tendencies have been maintained for other minor cultivars such as "Gros Michel", "apple", "bluggoe”. Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire remain as the main producer and supplier of Cavendish to Europe as an "ACP" countries (Figure 14 and 15).
Figure 14: Exports Cavendish Cameroun (2007: 221.918 T) UE - Imports from Cameroon (2007)
U.K. 31,7% France 36,5% Others 0,1% Portugal 2,2% Belg. & Lux.
29,4%
Figure 15: Exports Cavendish Cote d'Ivoire (2007: 189.840 T))
UE - Imports from Côte d'Ivoire (2007)
Portugal 1,0% Spain 0,3% France 37,9% U.K. 16,9% Belg. & Lux.
43,9%
Recently Ghana has moved into third place for Cavendish exports to Europe from Africa (Figure 16) and production for exportation from Mozambique and Angola with the support of the multinational "Chiquita" are planned in 2010 ; also Sudan is initiating export of Cavendish to the Middle-East, primarily Saudi Arabia.
Figure 16: Exports Cavendish Ghana (2007 : 33,404 T)
UE - Imports from Ghana
France 55,2% Bel. & Lux.
35,5% U.K. 9,1%
Poland 0,2%
In addition to the viral disease of the bunchy-top from throughout Central Africa, a new plant sanitary threat has emerged. Bacterial disease of Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) has spread throughout the major production areas of the East Africa Highlands from the close relative of bananas, "Ensete", in Ethiopia; BXW now affects Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Kivu) (Figure 17).
Figure 17: location of the Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW)
CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES “ACP” AND EUROPE
The Caribbean “ACP”
In the Caribbean, the production and export in the Windward Islands has declined with the end of exports from Grenada and have become oriented to fair-trade labelling and trade to Europe. However, volumes have increased in two ACP countries, the Dominican Republic which is the leading exporter of organic bananas and Surinam which targets the European market (Figure 18).
Figure 18: Evolution of the Cavendish exports of the Caribbean ACP
0 50 000 100 000 150 000 200 000 250 000 300 000 350 000 400 000 450 000 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 T o n e la d a s
Rep. Dom in. Surinam Grenada St-Vincent Dom inica Jam aica St-Lucia Belice
Europe (production and import)
Cavendish production within Europe are found in the Canaries for the Spanish market, in Martinique and Guadeloupe for markets in France, in Madeira for the Portuguese market and in Cyprus and Greece, although in recent years production has declined. The Canaries are still the main supplier in Europe (358,000 T in 2007) (Figures 19 and 20).
Figure 19: Evolution of the Cavendish supplying of EU from its zones of production
550 600 650 700 750 800 850 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 0 0 0 t o n s
Figure 20: Distribution of the Europe Cavendish production by region (552.000 T in 2007)
Production UE by re gion - 2007 Madeira 3,1% Greece 0,6% Cyprus 1,0% Guadeloupe 7,2% Canary I. 64,8% Martinique 23,4%
Cavendish production from French Martinique and Guadeloupe, as for numerous islands in the Caribbean, suffers from frequent hurricanes which destabilize markets in France (Figure 21).
Figure 21: Evolution of the commercialization of the production of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
20 70 120 170 220 270 320 370 420 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 Total Martinique Guadeloupe
Martinique / Guadeloupe : Cavendish trade
0 0 0 t o n s A ll e n G il b e rt H u g o C in d y D e b b y IL M H o rt e n s e L e n n y M ain hurricans & tropical storms 1980 : 66 000 t. 2007 : 40 000 t. 1997 : 277 000 t. 1988 : 126 000 t. G e o rg e s D a v id D e a n
Also within the European continent, Turkey has had noticeable increases in production, 178.000 T in 2006, which supplies more than half of the national market.
Despite the significant increases in the number of countries belongint to the EU (now 27) and operating under the EU importation regulations, Latin America continues to expand as the main EU supplier (3.8 MT in 2007, 73%), while production from ACP countries (0.8 MT, 16%) and within Europe (0.5 MT, 11%) continue to decrease (Figure 21).
Figure 21: Evolution of the Cavendish supplying of EU per origin.
Cavendish - UE - Supply by origin
0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 M T
Communitary production (UE) ACP $ Zone
Notably since 2003, African ACP countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon and Ghana) have lost market share compared to an increase in volumes of two Caribbean suppliers, Dominican Republic and Suriname (Figure 22)
Cavendish - Importaciones ACP hacia UE 53% 47% 56% 60% 54% 53% 61% 63% 61% 58% 44% 39% 40% 46% 47% 37% 39% 42% 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Africa
Otros ACP (Caribe)
The importation of plantains into the EU has followed a linear progression since 1995, mainly for African and Latin American immigrant communities. The main suppliers (97% in 2007) are Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica (Figures 23 and 24).
Figure 23: Evolution plantain imports the EU (2007: 68.448 T)
0 10 000 20 000 30 000 40 000 50 000 60 000 70 000 80 000 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2 007
Figure 24: Distribution of the plantain suppliers in EU (2007) Plantain UE Ecuador 49,7% Colom bia 37,4% Costa Rica 9,9% Uganda 2,3% Ghana 0,3% others 0,2% Dom inica 0,2% CONCLUSION
The overall growth of production and exports of banana / plantain follows a normal progression in direct relation to increases in human population. However, there are some distortions in some areas / countries due to pest and disease problems, limited response to the evolution of market chains and to increasing catastrophic climatic events. These distortions have contributed to the actual food crisis in certain countries.
Productivity remains generally quite low in relation to the genetic potential of most of the varieties used. Small growers who ensure production for national markets face numerous difficulties in adapting to technical changes - access to objective technical information, access to credits for new technologies and response to market changes in quality and quantity, and to the societal and rule pressures of agricultural impact on the environment (agro-chemical product use). On the other hand, internationally and nationally, there are few initiatives to strengthen research and development of bananas and plantains compared with other major crops in the new era of ecological intensification of agriculture.
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CIRAD. 2008. Statistics Yearbook Fresh fruit and vegetables 2006 and 2007 EU-27 imports. Fruitrop, n° 158. p. 3, 22.
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