Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

294 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 2
quality standards and storage guarantees, approve or not delivery of the shipment.
Generally this type of market fixes the price range to avoid abrupt fluctuations and
classifies the product according to commercial quality scales.
It must be recognised that, in spite of its importance, only two plantain growers’
associations exist in Colombia, APLABAQUIN and PROPLAT, in the Quindío department,
that, independently of each other, are watching over the technical and economic
development of the crop. This lack is one of the aspects that has most influenced the
price policy for producer and consumer, as the intermediaries are fixing market prices at
their convenience.
Grading the fruit for the specialised market
From a commercial standpoint, the Colombian market produces three outstanding
varieties of plantain.
Harton plantain: Mainly cultivated in the Eastern Plains and the Atlantic Coast
regions, this variety has gained popularity in the Bogota market and it fetches the best
prices. It is most abundant in the marketplace during the months from October to April.
Its presence in the capital is affected during the rest of the year by the severe winter,
which interferes with the movement of vehicles to and from the production zones in the
Eastern Plains and by the detrimental effect of drought from the middle of December to
the middle of March every year.
Dominico-Harton plantain: This variety is cultivated in the coffee zone, and after
Harton, is the variety most appreciated in consumer centres. It has an average of five
hands and around 8-10 fruits per hand. It is continuously produced throughout the year.
Dominico plantain: In spite of the fact that the bunches of this variety possess a
greater number of fruits compared to the two preceding varieties, it is not as popular in
the national market. Principal demand comes from medium-sized cities and small towns
with a regional and specific market. It is sold in cities like Cali and Medellin but in
relatively small quantities if compared with the total existing market.
The grading that is assigned to the fruit (Dominico-Harton and Harton) destined for
the specialised market is as follows: the fruit is harvested with great care to avoid
mechanical damage; then it is selected by size of bunch or for degree of ripeness; later it
is separated into hands or individual fruits and classified into different grades, after
which it is washed to remove its rubber stains; finally it is left to dry, labelled and packed
in plastic baskets of 18 to 22 kg capacity. For the non-specialised market, sale is by
bunch: the product does not undergo this grading process.
Quality standards
In Colombia no quality specifications or standards are applied. However, quality controls
are applied for export markets and specialised national markets (supermarket chains or
processing plants), characterised by the absence of intermediaries, where the cost of the
product to the producer and the consumer is regulated by quality. No quality control is
applied for the regional and/or national markets that are controlled by the