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BANANA AND PLANTAIN IN WEST AFRICA: PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
Olumba, CC & Onunka, CN
Abstract
This study provides an overview of banana and plantain in West Africa. West Africa is
one of the major plantain-producing regions of the world, accounting for about 32% of
worldwide production. The major plantain-producing countries in the region include
Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Guinea. Banana is also cultivated in West Africa but
account for only 2.3% of worldwide production. The major banana-producing countries
in the region include Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, and Liberia. Banana and plantain have
become major food and cash crops in the region. Since the last decade, plantain yields in
West Africa have experienced slight increases, with the largest production of 3.7 million
metric tons in Ghana, contributing about 13.1% to the agricultural Gross Domestic
Product. Cote d’lvoire ranks the highest producer of bananas with about 320,000 metric
tons in West Africa. Although plantain production in West Africa is much higher than
banana production, banana is presently of greater importance in terms of world trade.
Whereas plantain marketing is characterized by small-scale, widely dispersed producers,
banana production is generally more centralized, involving larger production firms and
a more structured marketing and transportation system. In West Africa, the sustained
production of banana and plantain is endangered by several yield constraining factors
including pests and diseases, low technology adoption and environmental factors
especially under smallholder management. However, there is room for progress in
obtaining bigger yield of these crops. Banana and plantain production enterprises in West
Africa have great prospects in the area of employment generation, contributions to
national income and gross domestic product, poverty alleviation, economic and industrial
growth and rural development. Recommendations are drawn for the provision of market
information outfits to disseminate information timely to banana and plantain marketers,
price stability, and the need for intensive research on the growth requirements for the
sustained production of the crops.
Keywords
Banana; plantain; Trends; production; Yield; trade; Marketing; Constraints; West Africa
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