A grower in Fukui City, Japan, is producing bananas year-round under greenhouse conditions despite the region's cold and snowy climate.
Naoki Ejima, 63, previously worked as a pharmacist at a local drugstore but left the position before retirement age to focus on banana cultivation. In 2021, he began studying agriculture at a Fukui prefectural training facility. Although he was told that growing bananas in Fukui would be "impossible", he proceeded with greenhouse construction and initiated production using seedlings.
During the early stages, he faced pest pressure but continued with an organic cultivation method.
He now expects an annual harvest of 20,000 bananas. The product, marketed as Echizen Bananas, is supplied to JA Fukuiken farm stands.
Ejima attributes production success to two technical measures. Seedlings are treated before planting to improve cold tolerance, and greenhouse temperatures are maintained at 15 deg C throughout the year.
Echizen Bananas are sold as souvenirs at a retail price of 600 yen per bunch of three to six bananas, approximately US$3.87. This pricing is above that of imported bananas.
Heating costs remain the main operational challenge. Current production relies on kerosene for greenhouse heating, and Ejima is exploring alternative cultivation methods that do not depend on this energy source.
"I want to make an appealing workplace while selling the products at a reasonable price so that they reach many people," Ejima said.
For high-tech greenhouse growers, the case demonstrates the use of temperature control and seedling treatment protocols to enable tropical crop production in cold climate regions.
Source: The Star
