Currently the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) requires bananas to be at least 14cm long to qualify for exports but soon these regulations may change.
With the change, Indian banana varieties could soon find their way into European and US markets, if the Centre manages to persuade the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to change their regulations.
In September, APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) will try to persuade the Codex committee of the FAO to change the standards so that smaller banana varieties can be exported.
India accounts for about 30 per cent of global banana production but its share in exports is only about one per cent. In 2015-16, the country had exported about 70,000 tonnes of bananas. Singh said that once these standards are changed it will open up the exports market.
