Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Asie - Pacifique / Asia - Pacific : L. Setyobudi
6.81 kg/person/year (25.78%) by urban people and 10.30 kg/person/year (43.83%) in rural
areas. For the last 10 years, the contribution of bananas in Indonesian food security was
confirmed by an annual increase in planted area (3.26%) and in productivity (8.98%).
Table 2 presents details on banana consumption patterns in average percentage per
capita monthly expenditure by food commodity group.
The expenditure of Indonesian on bananas represents only 1.31% of the total monthly
food expenditure. The figures do not reflect the real situation of the consumption
because most of bananas are grown in home gardens, especially for the rural people,
therefore not bought on the market.
A figure closer to the reality and that could show how important bananas are in the
Indonesian diet is the comparison of the banana consumption in quantity with that of
rice, the staple food of Indonesian. More detail evaluation in this matter is presented in
Table 3.
Table 2. Percentage of the average per capita monthly expenditure by commodity
group in 1996.
Commodity group Urban Rural Urban & rural
1. Cereals 17.66 27.58 23.12
2. Tubers 0.88 1.50 1.22
3. Fish, meat, eggs, milk 22.78 17.45 19.84
4. Vegetables, legumes, fruits 18.20 17.26 17.84
Fruits 6.21 4.41 5.21
Bananas 1.09 1.47 1.31
5. Miscellaneous 14.03 15.54 14.61
6. Prepared food 19.16 12.24 15.35
7. Alcoholic beverages 0.15 0.14 0.14
8. Tobacco and betel 7.15 8.76 8.03
TOTAL 100 100 100
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 1997a.
Table 3. Yearly consumption of banana in comparison with rice in 1996.
Food items Urban Rural Urban & rural Urban
Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value
(kg) US$ (kg) US$ (kg) US$
Rice 102.18 29.03 116.69 30.66 109.93 30.27
(100)* (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)
Fruits 26.42 10.42 23.50 5.10 24.44 6.98
(25.86) (35.89) (20.14) (16.63) (22.23) (23.06)
Banana 6.81 1.83 10.30 1.69 9.05 1.75
(6.66) (6.30) (8.83) (5.51) (8.23) (5.78)
US$ 1.00 = Rp 3.500
* ( ) = index commodities to rice
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 1997b.
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