Farmers in the Indian cities of Bidar and Kalaburagi will receive help from Tamil Nadu based National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) scientists. The farmers will be trained in cultivation methods, crop protection and post-harvest technologies, as well as being provided with seedlings and other inputs.
As a first step towards this long-time association, a team led by the centre director B. Padmanabhan visited the Bidar-based College of Horticulture on Wednesday 27 April and interacted with farmers, teachers and students, and inspected the post-harvest laboratory, library, and the farms and greenhouses.
R. Thangavelu, scientist, said that the market for Kamalapur red banana would grow further as consumers were slowly realising its health benefits.
Ready market
Suraj Patil, a farmer from Kamalapur, asked farmers to pick banana over sugarcane as the former had a ready market, promised assured yields and “frees you from the clutches of the sugar factories.”
S.S. Baragimath, Deputy Director of Horticulture, said banana farms added up to 2,000 hectares in Bidar district. The area can be increased gradually, once farmers realise the benefits, he said. He pointed out that farmers could double their cultivable area by opting for drip irrigation, and increase productivity by 20-30 per cent. He said banana needed 15-20 litres of water per day per plant, slightly higher than that needed for sugarcane. But bananas had a large market potential as they could be sold anywhere, round the year.
