Cold chain shortage, others threaten Nigeria’s banana export

Despite ranking as the fourth-largest banana producer globally, Nigeria’s ambition to capitalise on the estimated $140 billion world market is being severely hampered by persistent challenges, particularly in quality control and logistics.

Recently a global banana supply crisis opened up a N22 trillion export opportunity for Nigeria, as climate change and plant diseases slash output in traditional producing nations, according to experts.

Stakeholders are urgently calling for reforms to transform the sector from a domestic staple into a major global revenue earner. The global banana supply is in crisis, with devastating plant diseases like Panama disease (TR4) and Black Sigatoka, compounded by climate change and extreme weather, slashing output in traditional exporting countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

The Chief Executive, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr. Olufemi Oladunni said disruption has created a massive opportunity for new suppliers.

With an annual output of approximately eight million metric tons, largely for domestic consumption, Nigeria has the raw volume, but lacks the necessary guarantee of better and more regular supply as well as more constant quality needed to compete overseas.

To address this, he recommended a road map which includes increased cultivation and processing in addition to pest control as  farmers confront diseases  that have destroyed the crop across the continent in recent years.

He stressed the need to develop disease resistant banana plants and to establish infrastructure to support banana exports to Europe.

Right now, only a few countries in Africa can export bananas to European markets. These include Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroon. Olufemi believes the country is in a better position to sell bananas overseas but lacks the wherewithal to compete with better mass production from other  enterprises in Africa.

According to him, what the industry has done to retain its global position is  to ensure  that growers guarantee better and  more regular supply as well as  more constant quality.

According to the Executive Director Gogreen Africa Initiative, Ambassador Adeniyi Sola Bunmi   Nigeria already grows millions of tons of bananas/plantains (roughly 7–8 million tons a year, quoting the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) figures mostly for domestic consumption.

He noted: “Nigeria is one of the world’s top banana/plantain producers (multi-million tons), so scaling value-addition (chips, flour, puree, dried fruit) targets an existing, large supply. There is a strong demand  for domestic eating and snack markets plus diaspora demand for processed plantain/banana products. Small but growing export potential if quality and cold-chain improve.”

He listed the challenges to include pests   diseases and poor surveillance and extension. Others are  increase rate of post-harvest loss caused by poor cold/logistics and low level of value-addition

The Director-General, African Centre for Supply Chain, Dr. Obiora Madu, had lamented that the country’s fresh fruit export is “weak and uncompetitive.” This is starkly illustrated by the fact that Nigeria exported a mere $45,000 worth of bananas and plantains to the United Kingdom last year, according to UN COMTRADE, compared to countries like Cameroon, which saw a 15 per cent rise in banana exports in August, with the UK market alone contributing nearly €10 million to its earnings.

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