Do you know bananas are the fourth most important food staple in the world and red bananas are bananas with red skin available in Southeast Asia?
They are soft with a sweet flavor, often used in desserts.
Red bananas are more nutritious and benefit the immune system, heart, and digestion.
Although domestic banana production is dominated by small producers, 80% of exports come from large plantations.
Madurai Agribusiness Incubation Forum (MABIF) is an initiative of NABARD and TNAU to promote agribusiness in the southern region of India.
MABIF vision itself as an incubation hub for agriculture seamlessly integrating with network linkages to the food chain. MABIF supports the Kazhani Farmer Producer company Ltd (KFPCL) located at Erode.
KFPCL is an FPO with a group of 30 village panchayats, spread over an area of 30sq km.
There are currently thousands of farmers covering an area of 5000 acres and are involved in agriculture and cultivation of paddy, banana, papaya, turmeric, and other produce.
What are the challenges that MABIF faces?
The Red bananas grown by the farmers attached to KFPCL are normally exported to other countries and some of the produce is sold locally in the markets. The quality of the product is important as it is an export product and banana production and yields are affected by many factors. The smallholder farmers face many challenges
- The banana value chain has a number of participants and collaboration is required.
- Cultivation, harvest, and selection of fruits is labor-intensive
- The supply chain is resource-intensive and records are maintained manually
- Sustainable practices and claims need to be proved
- The processes need to adhere to standards for quality yields
- Regulatory requirements for export have to comply
Traceability Solutions come to the rescue
MABIF connects with TraceX technologies to pilot the blockchain traceability for the red bananas, thereby streamlining the Banana value chain and creating a digital identity for the product.
The journey of the Banana
- The harvested fruits are packed in boxes and the QR code is generated for the batches.
- The QR code recreates the journey of the banana from production to consumption.
- The boxes of bananas are transported to local markets and are also exported.
Win-Win for MABIF and TraceX
MABIF is able to showcase the traceability of the red bananas to satisfy consumers all around the world, assuring food safety, transparency, and sustainability of the product with TraceX’s solutions.
It is also a sense of satisfaction for TraceX to have helped MABIF in the digitization of their product supply chain and bring trust and transparency among the various stakeholders in the supply chain.
