Farmers in Andhra Pradesh in southeast India are ruing a crash of farm-gate banana prices to 50 paise ($0.0056) a kg.
Paise is a small unit in India’s money, equal to 100th part of a rupee and thus enjoys little use.
While the paise claim only informs Andhra Pradesh, the situation is no better in Telangana where rates have touched 3 rupees ($0.033)/kg.
Growers in the state’s Sangareddy district were reportedly shrugging off broker exploitation by opting to destroy their unripe crop.
This is even as middlemen were apparently earning 60 rupees ($0.67) per 12 bananas through sales in neighboring districts.
Sangareddy farms the tropical produce on over 500 acres in such mandals (divisions) as Kohir, Zaheerabad and Mogudampally.
Farmers here normally earn up to 12 rupees ($0.13) a kg for their fresh bananas in good times.
This time round not only are rates way too cheap but storage infrastructure negates saving stock for future price improvements.
Transportation Pause Quells Prices
Infrastructure issues also inform the weak rate in Andhra Pradesh, which grows the National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB)-developed Grand Naine cultivar.
Former chief minister and banana league leader Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the current state government has overlooked hitherto exclusive rail cargo for bananas.
The special transportation used to ease distribution for producers and reduced middleman interference.
During the cargo service, the fruit would bring 25,000 rupees ($277.75) a tonne but now generates 8,000 rupees (88.88)/t in banana-rich Pulivendula district.
The Pulivendula situation marks a collapse of 60% in unit valuation in a month, an indicator of a meltdown.
Reddy however praised his current banana leadership which has raised statewide exports to almost 300,000 tonnes from 23,000 tonnes in the previous leadership. And despite courting weak prices, Andhra Pradesh is the major banana supplier in India, per the following stats.
India Banana Production Statistics
India is the world’s powerhouse of banana production and acreage, with a 19.37% global production share. In 2023, the subcontinent harvested 36.6 million tonnes, from 994,000 hectares, three times the output and acreage of runner-up China. Below is a sample interpretation of the FAOSTAT’s historical production data:
| Year | Output [tonnes] | Harvested Area [Ha} |
| 2023 | 36,614,000 | 994,000 |
| 2022 | 34,528,000 | 963,000 |
| 2021 | 33,062,000 | 924,000 |
| 2020 | 32,597,000 | 897,000 |
Which states produce the most of India’s bananas?
Andhra Pradesh in the Indian southeast tops banana production at 17.64%, ahead of Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west at 12.77 and 11.81%, respectively. Gujarat however enjoys the most productivity globally at 65.91 tonnes/ha. This is versus the national yield rate of 35.78 tonnes/ha and the global equivalent of 17.18 t/ha, per the Times of India.