Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

232 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 1
Contribution of banana compared to rice in the Indonesian diet ranges 6-9% in
quantity but only 5-6% in value. The role of bananas is, however, somewhat low when
considering it as a potential complementary staple food. It should in fact represent
between 20 and 25%. The quantity of bananas consumed yearly by the rural people is
higher than that consumed by urban people but lower in value. The fact suggests that the
bananas eaten by the rural people are of a lower quality or might be cheaper when
bought at the farm gate. If our program in promoting bananas succeeds, we might expect
to have a stronger national staple food security than in the current condition that rely
mostly on rice.
Among all fruits, bananas are the most important fruit consumed in Indonesia. Rural
people consume more bananas (43.83%) than urban people (25.78%). Therefore, bananas
have an important role in the rural nutrition and food security.
Banana trade
The domestic market is very important: more than 200 million people live in Indonesia.
The consumption of banana starts very early when babies begin to have additional food
instead of only nursing their mother. In other words, bananas is part of the Indonesian
way of life.
Seven models of marketing system are currently in use in Indonesia. The models
differ from one region to another (Figure 1). The differences affect prices obtained by
the farmer. Prices at the farm gate are 39.71 + 13.9% from the price at the consumer end
level. The longer the marketing chain is, the lower is the price obtained by the farmer.
The farm gate prices do not really reflect the profit share that might be obtained by the
farmer. Most of the farmers do not include their labour in cost of production. The
intermediaries obtain the highest profit in the marketing system. Risk and yield losses
and the fluctuations in prices at intermediary stages, are mostly due to transportation,
grading and variations in consumers’ preferences. The risk at the postharvest stage is
higher because any damage in this sector is irrecoverable.
A compared analysis of the retail prices of banana (Pisang Ambon) in the western
and eastern parts of Indonesia show important differences. The summary of analysis is
presented in the Table 4.
Fluctuation of banana prices is more important in the western part of Indonesia
where transportation and exchanges are more dynamic. The market in the eastern part
is more conservative because it includes less population and more islands than western
part and that makes banana transportation more difficult to manage.
Table 4. Average retail prices (Rupiah + sd) of banana at the eastern vs western part
of Indonesia (1992-1996).
Part of
Indonesia
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Eastern 721.0 ± 157.3 822.6 ± 199.4 900.5 ± 162.3 1,239.0 ± 184.5 1,236.4 ± 327.1
Western 804.1 ± 496.3 863.2 ± 412.6 1,037.7 ± 422.6 1,475.0 ± 810.6 1,824.4 ± 713.4
US$ 1.00 = Rp 3.500 (1996)