Sudan Banana, High Demand for the Fruit of the Poor
21 January, 2016KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)—A remarkable feature of the Sabonaby Village of Sennar State was the scene of young boys racing towards arriving buses to sell their banana. This no longer exists now that Syrian investors have come to realize the high quality and low price of this commodity and have begun to employ those boys and other persons to collect and pack the banana in the sites of production and load it on big trucks for export to Arab countries.
The banana, which is demanded at the local and international levels, is tasty and rich fruit in starch ingredients that, after digestion and assimilation, supplies the body with a great amount of energy. Its calorie is twice that of oranges or guava and more than that of mango and it is a good source for vitamin A and C, a medium source of vitamin B and contains iron ingredient which helps in the blood composition.
It is indicated in the Prophetic medicine literature that banana is useful in the treatment of the diseases of chest, lung and ulcers of the kidneys and the bladder, increases urine and sperm, stimulates sexual appeal and relaxes the stomach. Banana is also commended in the Holy Koran. There are other numerous uses of the banana which, in some countries, is used as flour for bread and its remains are used as fodder, organic fertilizer, ropes and ceilings for huts.
Sennar State provides most of this country's highly nutritious tropical fruit yielding 15,000 tons in 2014 while the Sudan's banana export was 20,000 tons in the same year, bringing in 6 million US dollars.
Sabonaby Village is expected to further promote its banana production as the Director of the Sudanese Center for Exports Sterilization, Abdul Rahman Mohamed Abdul Majid, has revealed underway arrangements for establishment of a center for packaging banana for export to be opened next March with a daily capacity of 100 tons.
He said this packaging center would explore new markets, support small-scale farmers and improve the quality of the Sudanese banana exports in terms of the sorting and packaging in line with the international standards.
Abdul Majid said a special center for the banana exports facilitates transportation of banana to the European and Gulf markets. 25% of the project will be appropriated for the people of the region as partners while 300 persons, mostly women, will be employed in the center, Abdul Majid said.
The Sudan possesses abundant resources and suitable conditions for producing plentiful yellow, tasteful banana which can be eaten without having cooked (there is another kind of banana known as 'Paradise banana with a bigger fruit of up to 30 cm in length and is cooked as a main dish in some of the tropical American countries). In addition to Senna, banana is grown in many states of a light, fertile soil on the banks of the Nile and its tributaries as well as seasonal rivers like Gash and Tokar in east Sudan, and in some valleys of South Darfur. Banana was cheap in different parts of the Sudan and for this reason it was called the fruit of the poor, but the growing rate of exportation and other factors have doubled its price.
Banana plays an important role in the economies of many developing countries because it can be made available throughout the year and can be transported and handled easily. Sudan is no exception as, according to information provided by FAO, it has since 1994 begun to exert tremendous efforts for upgrading its banana production through the research and education institutions.
The efforts included bringing in new breeds of banana which were subjected to scrutiny, examination and evaluation both in field and laboratory such as Grand Nain and Williams's species were passed in 2001 and 2003 respectively. These two species are characterized by high productivity and good quality and can be planted on a wide scale for exportation and have become available in the local markets alongside the main small Sudanese Cavendish grade.
Those efforts led to a growing international demand for the Sudanese banana and consequently to an increasing farmers' enthusiasm for growing the crop, as put by Dr. Badr al-Dinn al-Sheikh, Director of the Department of Horticulture on the Ministry of Agriculture. The country's banana exports increased in 2015 to 28,000 tons, he said.
In addition to the country efforts, there are regional ones for promotion of the banana commodity led by the Banana Research Network in Eastern and Southern Africa (BARNESA). The Sudan has been unanimously elected as president for the 2016-2018 session of the Network which includes 12 countries and six active scientific institutions.
Dr. Salah Babikir Bakheit, a researcher in the Agricultural Research Authority of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Sudan representative in BARNESA, said a recent meeting of the Network in Uganda under the motto "The Accomplished Progress for Improvement of Banana Production", reviewed several papers on banana diseases, including fungal withering, beside discussion of the hereditary banana improvement and of the commercial banana production in Sudan, Malawi and South Africa which are characterized by high rates of production. The meeting decided that a committee of a number of countries prepares a study on development of the banana crop in those countries, including Sudan, and another study on the effects of the climate changes on banana production, said Dr. Bakheit, adding that yet another study would be made on the systems of agriculture in small farms.
For its part, the Department of Horticulture said the Sudanese banana has a good fame and is favorite in a number of Arab countries, prompting the opening of new markets for the crop.
The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Irrigation in Sennar State, Dr. Baha'a al-Dinn Ahmed al-Hajj, speaking at a recent press conference, said his Ministry has focused on introduction of modern production technologies. He added that banana is expected to contribute to consolidation of the Sudanese exports and to increasing the local production if farming areas are expanded.
Experts say that, for expansion in banana production, it is necessary to improve infrastructures and logistics of the roads, earmark medium-term funding for farmers by the government banks, establishment of new banana farms of high productivity for export, expansion in growing the approved grades on expanded clay lands.
The experts also recommend the use of harvesting and transportation means which guarantee that the produce that is presented in the markets is of a good quality besides encouraging the producers and exporters by facilitating the procedures and exemption of government duties on production and production inputs.
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