Help developing countries or regions to innovate and give small farmers and traders access to better logistics, finance and payment systems, information exchange, training and education. Support small farmers and rural communities in developing countries to:

The spread of the disease is a multi-faced disaster. In many countries the banana or plantain is a key commodity for local markets and absolutely vital for food security. The main banana industry is betting on the development of a TR4 resistant Cavendish banana, but the results of this effort are highly uncertain.

In Peru’s banana sector (+/- 10,000 hectares), an estimated 20 million plastic bags are used annually for this purpose, some 450 tonnes of plastic altogether. An awful lot of this plastic waste used to be disposed of in landfills, incinerated or even worse, dumped on plantations or by the roadside. Thankfully, this is now gradually changing for the better.

The past year saw the completion of a remarkable initiative in Costa Rica: the construction of a pilot plant for pallets with blocks made of pressed banana fibre. Test results so far are great: compared to traditional wooden blocks, banana fibre blocks give the pallets greater strength and are less likely to come loose

The demand on the domestic market is bigger than the local supply, so every week bananas are imported, mostly from Côte d’Ivoire. With the support of AgroFair and others, the seeds are planted for higher productivity, better quality and a stable supply, to serve the high-end and rewarding banana markets in the urban centers