Bananas and Food Security - Bioversity International

Amérique Latine - Caraïbes / Latin America - Caribbean : A. Gavilan et al.
Relative importance of home consumption in
the total production
To determine the relative importance of home consumption in the total production we
calculated the monetary value of the home consumption and of the total production. We
then divided the value of the total home consumption by that of the total production. We
did not include the production of the patio or of some minor crops of minor importance.
Again we had the problem that farmers could not remember the quantities of bananas
and plantains produced, sold, etc.
Fifteen percent of the farmers produce more for home consumption than for sale
(Table 6). Twenty-seven percent produce the same amount for home consumption and
for sale and 40% produce more for sale than for home consumption.
A comparison of home consumption in bananas and plantains and total production
shows that 60% of the farmers sell more than they keep for home consumption of their
total production. In bananas and plantains only 30% of the farmers sell more than what
they reserve for home consumption. The conclusion therefore is that bananas and plantains
are produced for home consumption more than are other crops.
Table 6. The importance of home consumption (%) in the production of different
food crops.
maize Musa rice sorghum bean cassava Total production
exclusively home
consumption 26.6 43.4 29.6 50.0 71.4 41.2 7.8
home consumption > sales 8.9 4.8 14.8 4.2 0.0 0.0 7.8
home consumption = sales 29.1 19.3 18.5 12.5 14.3 5.9 27.5
home consumption < sales 27.9 16.9 33.3 8.3 14.3 23.6 40.6
exclusively sold 7.6 15.7 3.7 25.0 0.0 29.4 20.4
Sales of other crops
Comparing sales of other crops (Table 6), we see that beans are mainly kept for home
consumption and bananas and plantains are kept more than other food crops.
Bananas and plantains are frequently seen as a substitute for maize: when we have
no money or no maize for the ‘tortilla’, we always have bananas and plantains. The proportion
of production which is sold increases with the size of the farm. But in each case
the production of bananas and plantains is always kept for home consumption more than
in the case of maize. Cash crops are of course all sold.
The varieties produced
The varieties mostly produced are, according to our study, the False Horn plantain
(plátano cuerno) and Bluggoe (guineo cuadrado). In fact, the Giant Cavendish is the
most important variety in the region. It is produced for export only by large farmers.
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