India: Baby bananas set to conquer the market

In order to gain a foothold in the European market, the Indian banana company, Deccan Field, attended the last edition of Fruit Logistica. According to Prashanth Gowda of Deccan Field, the feedback at the event has exceeded expectations. “Some visitors told us our bananas were the best ones they’ve ever had. We got people interested in our products and we’re going to follow up this interest by travelling to Frankfurt and Dubai for trade fairs.”

Deccan Field specializes in Cavendish and Yelakki varieties. The company is the largest producer of Yelakki bananas in India. One of the main brand products of the company are Bengaluru Baby bananas (BBB). “Our BBB brand was greatly appreciated by the audience at Fruit Logistica, they were even called "cute" due to their small sizes. The taste made a positive impact as well.”



The export market for Indian bananas has been on the rise. The total volume of exported bananas was a bit over 63.000 tons in 2014/2015. In the season of 2015/2016, this volume increased by a massive 45% up to 93.500 tons. A major reason for this increase is that consumers of the western regions in Asia have taken a liking to Indian bananas. The main export markets are currently the Middle East and Dubai. However, European markets like the UK and France are importing more and more Indian bananas as well.



Deccan Field is based in Karanataka in Bangalore in southern India. The farms that work for the company are set up about 50 kilometers from the corporate office. The total acreage amounts to over 320 hectares, with a combined production capacity of 25 to 50 tons per day.

The company was previously only able to supply to the domestic market, as production in India was limited due to the drought of the last two years. “We lacked a constant supply of water, which was of crucial importance for increasing our yields,” explains Gowda.



However, thanks to a large irrigation project that was set up by the company director, C.P. Yogeshwar, Deccan Field was able to establish just that. “With the current water supply, we were able to increase our production rate by 35%. Our company has also ensured a strong market for our farmers and allowed for added value for their produce,” ended Gowda.

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