Kerala company rolls out banana stem juice along with other banana-based value-added products
The Hindu
Banaza Enterprises in Kerala launches banana stem juice and banana-based products
Like many other banana farmers, Mohamed Poothalaparambil also used to discard the trunk or pseudostem after harvesting the banana. But, not anymore. The 65-year-old farmer from Vazhakkad panchayat in Malappuram, takes out the edible, tender-white or pale green stems or vazhappindi from inside these trunks and supplies it to a unit where juice is extracted from these stems, bottled and sold.
Mohamed is now a regular supplier of banana stems to the manufacturing unit of Banaza Enterprises, which is the agri-business partner of Greendom, an FPC (farmer producer company), which has over 450 banana farmers as shareholders.
“I had no idea about the product till the people from the company got in touch with me,” says Mohamed, whose family has been into banana farming for several decades. “I have already supplied nearly one tonne in the last one-and-half months.”
Malappuram district leads in banana cultivation in Kerala. The farming is concentrated in Vazhakkad and Vazhayoor panchayats, where more than 1,100 farmers are cultivating the crop on over 200 hectares. Panchayats such as Cherukavu, Muthuvalloor and Pulikkal in the district also have banana cultivation.
Mohamed Poothalaparambil taking out banana stem from the banana trunk | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
While banana fibre is used to make eco-friendly products and vazhappindi predominantly goes into the preparation of different side dishes, Kerala is yet to warm up to the idea of extracting juice from the latter.
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