The initiative to produce banana flour is still in its experimental stage in Paraguay. However, it has already yielded positive results because of the large profits of the product. It can be used in the cookie industry, the candy industry, the ice cream industry and others. It also represents a great alternative for the segment that manufactures foods for people who are celiac as banana flour does not contain gluten.
An NGO worked with the Paraguayan agricultural sector and addressed the banana industry of the Central, Paraguari, Cordillera, Caaguazu, San Pedro, and Bajo Chaco departments in the framework of the project entitled: "Fruit horticulture as a means to access high-value markets." In this regard, producers from the Guayaibi district complained of difficulties in marketing their products. It was a growing problem because Argentina stopped importing fruit and the local market's stock was too high. At this point, thanks to the laws of supply and demand, the price of a box of bananas at origin decreased to $4,000 guarani and $5,000 guarani.
Marcelo Caero, an agricultural engineer from Bolivia that is a specialist in bananas, joined the project and conducted research on the percentage of the loss of bananas after post-harvest and during marketing, which yielded unfavorable results in the field. The research was compared to a study by the USAID in the Guayaibí area, which reported declining banana cultivars in nearly 300 hectares, mainly because of marketing.
The market was crowded with banana and prices were very low. Producers only received $5,000 guarani per box (18-20 dozens of fruit or 25-27 kg of product), which wasn't enough to pay laborers in the harvest period. Therefore, on several occasions, it was better for producers to let the bananas ripen on the ground and become bird food.
Faced with a grim picture, the only way out was for the sector to industrialize the raw material. Thus, banana flour was born as a result of a social problem. To date, the work is being done with 75 farmers who grow banana and pineapple in the area of Tembiapora (Caaguazu) and other areas of the Cordillera department, specifically with Consulcoop Cooperative, as they have dryers for bananas.
The process for making banana flour is as follows: the green fruit is harvested and brought to the dryers, near the farms. There the raw material is received, both first class and second-class bananas (discarded bananas), and it is prepared in trays to enter a furnace.
After about 30 hours, the bananas are fully dried and ready for milling. This work takes place in Asuncion, in an industry with an installed capacity of 30,000 kg per day (12 hours) capacity. Afterwards, the finished flour is packaged in the same facility, and it can be stored in a cool place free from humidity and heat, waiting for commercialization.
Paraguayan banana
The banana produced in Paraguay is known as one of the sweetest bananas, which represents a very important opportunity to use in the flour sector.
The industry is not only using the 15% of bananas discarded, as it can use the entire production for drying and grinding. Moreover, the project includes making use of the entire banana, as 40% of the total weight of the fruit is in the shell, which can be used as an effective organic fertilizer for orchards.
Banana flour
The pilot project includes, at first, the districts of Guayaibí and Tembiaporã, with the installation of drying facilities.
Producers sell all of their production, regardless of if it is first class or second class. Producers will save on inputs, as they won't have to buy boxes to place the fruit because the industry and the dryers provide the means of transfer for the fruit.
The raw material is dried in the field and sent to the capital to be milled; the shell is used as a fertilizer.
The flour industry is constituted as a repository of dried fruits and is responsible for providing the market with the finished product. Ice cream, candy and cookie factories can use banana flour.
Source: ABC Rural