Post-harvest loss reduction is one of the important criteria to ensure the total amount of bananas available at the consumers level. This study identified the fresh produce marketing chain and the value chain of bananas along with damages and post-harvest losses in different stages of the marketing chain in Bangladesh through field visits and surveys. The major actors of the marketing chain were producers, local market middlemen/bepari, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. The major value additions in the fresh produce banana marketing were found to be 17.42%, 1.48%, 1.89% and 42.58% for farmers to local market, middlemen, wholesalers and retailers, respectively. The postharvest losses of banana in the marketing chain were obtained as 3.33% at farmers level, 5.17% at arathdars level and 16.36% at retailers level. The gross postharvest losses of banana from harvesting to consumption were obtained as 21.67% of total production. The main causes of the postharvest losses were mechanical and physical damages of banana at the farm and wholesalers levels, while over-ripening was the main cause at the retailers level. Therefore, poor postharvest handling practices from the farm to the retailers have primarily caused the losses of banana in the supply chain. The outcomes of this study could be used to adopt measures to reduce the post-harvest losses and improve the socio-economic status of the actors in the fresh produce marketing chain of banana in Bangladesh.
Key words: Banana, Marketing chain, Postharvest losses, Wholesaler, Retailer
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