Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

24 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 1
which are grown largely for export fetch a higher price than plantains, which are
predominantly a local food crop. On the other hand, in Africa, plantains are more highly
valued than bananas 2 .
Production trends
Over the last thirty years, global Musa production has increased by 70%, from 51 million
tonnes in 1970 to 88 million tonnes in 1997. This compares with a 67% increase in
cassava production over the same period, while sweet potato production has not
increased (Figure 2). Thus Musa production is growing faster than that of other starchy
staples and this increase in production has occurred in all regions (Figure 3). This
contrasts with cassava, where increased production has occurred predominantly in
Africa (Figure 4).
At the global level, yields of bananas and plantains have increased from 8.97 t/ha in
1970 to 10.11 t/ha in 1997. This is an increase of around 13%. However it can be seen
from Figure 5 that this yield increase occurred primarily in Asia between 1970 and 1980.
Yields in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean have not increased significantly in
the last 30 years and increases in production are due almost exclusively to an increase in
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Sweet potato Cassava Musa
Figure 2. Percentage increase in global Musa, sweet potato and cassava production, 1970-97.
2 The prices quoted are taken from the FAO Agricultural Statistics database and must be
treated with a certain amount of caution. The prices quoted refer to “prices received by
farmer” and should in theory refer to the national average of individual commodities
comprising all grades, kinds and varieties. These prices are determined by the farm gate,
or first point-of-sale transactions which the farmers participate in. Methods of arriving at
national averages vary from country to country and data might not always refer to the
same selling points depending on the prevailing institutional set-up in the countries.