I. Introduction - Banana Industry PDF

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Introductory to Banana Industry...

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Banana Industry in the Philippines

I. Introduction A. The Industry The Philippine banana export industry is the 3rd biggest in the world and the only Asian country among the top 5. Amongst the fruits bearing in the Philippines banana is one of the leading fruit grown and a consistent top dollar earner. The prospect of Philippine bananas in the domestic and foreign market is still promising. Fresh Cavendish banana and banana chips are some sample of banana products that is being exported. For export, "Cavendish" type is grown for the fresh market while 'Saba'/'Cardaba' for chip-making. B. Important Banana Cultivars • Cardaba or Saba is grown mainly for cooking and banana chips making. • 'Lakatan' and 'Latundan' are grown commercially for the local market. • 'Cavendish' is grown in plantation scale in Mindanao • Balangon or bungulan is grown organically in Tupi, South Cotabato and other areas in the country.

1. Saba/Cardaba Its fruit is large and angular and has a starchy white pulp but sweet when ripe. Each bunch has 10-16 hands with each hand having 12-20 fingers. From the day of shooting, the fruit will mature for a period of 150 to 180 days. The male bud is commonly used as vegetable. The plant has a robust growth with pseudostem reaching up to 5-6m. 2. Lakatan It has a light orange to orange pulp, firm and aromatic. Its peel is golden yellow in color when ripe. Each bunch has 10-12 hands with 12-20 fingers. The size of each finger ranges form 10-20 cm in length and 2.0¬2.5 cm in diameter. The fruit matures 80-90 days from shooting. 3. Latundan Fine textured white pulp and yellow peel. Latundan has a sweet with a mild subacid taste. A bunch has 5-9 hands with 12-18 fingers. It has a medium size fruit ranging from 10-15 cm in length. The fruit matures 75¬85 days from shooting. 4. Giant Cavendish Under normal temperature, it has a greenish-yellow fruit. It has a white to cream pulp, soft, fine-textured and sweet. Cavendish variety produces 7-14 hands per bunch 1|Page

Banana Industry in the Philippines

weighing as much as 60 kg. The fruit matures 105-120 days from shooting. The plant can reach as high as 3-5 meters and can produce 36 leaves from the emergence of the first leaf to maturity. Each leaf can grow as much as 4 meters long and more than a meter wide. Its first leaf emerges from 11-15 days in upland and 7-9 days in lowland. 5. Dwarf Cavendish These are very small plants reaching a height of only 1 1/2meters. The pseudostems are stout attaining a diameter of 75-80 cm with brown-black blotches spreading all over. Leaves clustered at the crown with short internodes and winged petiole having wide-open canals not clasping the pseudostem. A bunch has 8-12 hands and the fruits are yellowish green in color with brownish spots. Its shortness makes it stable, wind-resistant, and easier to manage. This, in addition to its fast growth rate, makes it ideal for plantation cultivation. An easily recognizable characteristic of this cultivar is that the male bracts and flowers are not shed. The fruits of the Cavendish bananas range from about 15 to 25 cm in length, and are thin skinned. Each plant can bear up to 90 fingers 6. Balangon or Bungulan Balangon, a native variety of green banana, is alter trade's most widely produced and widest selling product. alter trade's balangon are naturally grown. they approximate the health value and taste of original balangon that grow wild and unattended in the mountainous, forested regions of the philippines.balangon's aromatic, sweet-sour taste has been preferred internationally. japan has been alter trade's largest balangon market, with the middle east and other asian countries contributing a significant share.being produced by land reform beneficiaries from negros and farmers from northern luzon, panay, bohol and cavite, alter trade's bananas symbolize the self-help, and self-determination of the filipino poor. Other varieties include: Inarnibal, Amas, Bungulan, Pitogo, Morado, Inabaniko and Senorita. Almost 200 varieties and strains of banana and plantains maintained at the BPIGenebank. Promising varieties include: Paa Dalaga, Radja, Pelipia, Katsila, Turangkong and Dalian (resistant to BBTV).

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