Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

66 Les productions bananières / Bananas and food security – Session 1
Although the yields per unit are low, the great extent of plantain production area
allows to harvest an average of 150,000 bunches weekly.
Marketing
The plantain production of El Carmen is mainly exported to USA (40,000 boxes of 22.5 kg
and Colombia (40,000 bunches).
The production not suitable for USA is processed for the domestic market in boxes of
100 fruits (8000 boxes) or sold in bunches (green plantain: 30,000 bunches, ripe
plantain: 4000).
Conclusions
The banana trade for the domestic consumption in Ecuador is a fluent and calm
developing activity, as the supply of the fruit is secured by the surplus of the export,
which is permanent and its volumes exceed the domestic consumption. Because of this,
good quality bananas at good prices are available all year around.
The plantain production, although not so sophisticated as of the banana, is favoured
by climatic conditions, with absence of hurricanes or long periods of drought, and it is
constant during all the year. Black Sigatoka disease is not virulent, and the application of
chemical treatments is not needed. Equally, the plantain availability is permanent and
prices are low.