LAHORE: Dr. Muhammad Javed Tareen Technical Member Chief Ministers Inspection Team, Govt of Balochistan has recommended that banana growers should adopt modern techniques of value-addition and government should provide facilities of cold storages, packing materials/refrigerated trucks and access to market to minimize post-harvest losses.

He was speaking at a webinar arranged by the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) on the topic of “Value-added Products of Banana”. Pakistan produces about 155,000 MT Banana annually at an area of about 35,000 hectares. It is mainly grown in Sindh province where the soil and climatic conditions are favorable for its successful cultivation. Keeping in view its huge supply there is a need to intervene on the value addition of banana.

Dr. Muhammad Javed Tareen started his presentation with globally and local production analysis. He stated that world production of banana is 124.9 million tons per annum with 5.3 million hectares while Pakistan has 155 thousand tons’ production annually with cultivated area of 35 thousand hectares.

He explained scope of value-addition, quality characters of banana for processing and value-added products of banana. He stated that major hindrance in the processing industries was the availability of quality grade processing raw materials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023