A lack of attention from policy makers and the absence of improved seedlings have been identified as the major obstacles to large scale cultivation, as well as the successful export of bananas from Nigeria.
Bananas are largely produced in the southern states as well as Plateau, Benue and Kogi in the North Central. Statistics showed that the country was the fourth largest producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, behind East African countries of Uganda and Rwanda and Ghana in West Africa. Cameroon which was ranked fifth was also doing well in the exportation of the produce.
Daniel Workman, founder of World’s Top Exports (WTEx), recently published an article listing the 15 top banana exporting countries in 2018. Nigeria is conspicuously missing from the list, with Cameroon and Cote d’Ivore the only African countries that made the list.
Others are Dominican Republic: $365.5m (2.7 per cent), Honduras: $318.1m (2.3 per cent), Panama: $313.8m (2.3 per cent), Mexico: $259m (1.9 per cent), Cameroon: $244.1m (1.8 per cent), Germany: $236.1m (1.7 per cent) and Cote d’Ivore: $173.7m (1.3 per cent).
Workman said worldwide banana exports totaled an estimated $13.6bn in 2018, up by an average 22.5 per cent for all banana shippers over the five-year period, starting in 2014 when banana shipments were valued at $11.1bn. He said the 15 countries shipped 88.8 per cent of global banana exports in 2018 by value. Among the countries, the fastest growing banana exporters since 2014 were Panama (up 220.5 per cent), Cameroon (up 216.7 per cent), Netherlands (up 124.7 per cent) and Guatemala (up 103.8 per cent).
Experts believe that if Cameroon. which is reportedly producing less than Nigeria, is doing well in the export of the produce, then Nigeria should put things in place and start making money from the export.
Source: www.dailytrust.com.ng
