Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Amérique Latine - Caraïbes / Latin America - Caribbean : C. Oliveira de Almeida et al.
2.79% per year, production increased only 2.24%/year, so the increase in production was
due to the increase in cultivated area, rather than increasing yield. This is evident in
Figure 2 which shows that the banana yield in Brazil decreased from 1970 to 1995,
increasing again in 1996 and 1997. Considering the whole period (1970-1997) the banana
yield decreased from 1775 bunches/ha in 1970 to 1118 bunches/ha in 1997,
corresponding to a 1.70% decrease per year.
The most important problems with the banana crop and particularly its yield in
Brazil are:
• low level of adoption of production technology, mainly in the north and north-east
regions;
• the cultivated varieties, except “Terra” and “Maçã”, are susceptible to yellow
Sigatoka,
• the cultivated varieties are susceptible to Fusarium wilt, the main constraint to the
production of the cultivar Maçã and,
• the recent detection of black Sigatoka in the Amazon region, constituting a very
dangerous situation for the Brazilian banana industry, due to the high virulence of the
pathogen and lack of resistance in commercial banana varieties.
Data presented in Table 5 show a comparison between the total costs of food and of
bananas, for several economic levels of the Brazilian population, according to IBGE’s
estimates. The data indicate that costs for banana correspond to 0.87% of total food costs
in Brazil. It is also shown that for those who make from three to five times the minimal
salary/month the costs for banana represent 1.22% of total food costs, while those who
occupy higher economic levels spend less on bananas. From the economic point of view,
Table 5. Percentage of costs for banana in comparison with total food costs in Brazil
in 1996, for various economic levels in the population.
Salary/month Brazil
Mean 0.87
Up to 2 x minimum 0.99
From 2 to 3 x minimum 1.21
From 3 to 5 x minimum 1.22
From 5 to 6 x minimum 0.91
From 6 to 8 x minimum 0.91
From 8 to 10 x minimum 1.05
From 10 to 15 x minimum 0.89
From 15 to 20 x minimum 0.81
From 20 to 30 x minimum 0.82
Over 30 x minimum 0.62
No information
Source: IBGE, 1998. Organization: Embrapa-Cnpmf
Note: Minimal salary in 1996 = R$112/year
0.77
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