Local production of bananas 'non-existent'
Most traded fruit in the world
All the bananas Namibia consumes are imported, a NAB report on the fruit found.
As of 2022/2023, Namibia imported 6 394 tonnes of bananas per year, worth N$57 million. This an increase from 5 084 tonnes in 2018/19, while local production and the exports of bananas have been non-existent in Namibia.This according to a marketing intelligence report for bananas by the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB), which found that the fruit is not only one of the most important fruit crops in the world, but is also the most traded fruit in the world in terms of export value.
“Despite the predicted increase in demand, supply challenges are being experienced and these need to be mitigated to meet the estimated market growth,” it read.
When compiling the report, the NAB said it observed a complete lack of importation and domestic production of plantains and cooking bananas in Namibia. Hence, the report focused on fresh bananas. It added that the bananas Namibia consumes are all imported.
Very small scale
“There were no significant production volumes of bananas in Namibia as of 2022/2023.”
According to the report, insignificant bananas are produced at a very small scale and they are sold to informal markets, hence it is difficult to put on a formal market record.
South Africa accounted for about 99% of bananas imported into Namibia during each year, except in 2020 (Covid-19 period) when Angola supplied at least 7% of bananas imported into the country.
Besides South Africa and Angola, a few countries that sporadically exported bananas to Namibia include Mozambique, Botswana, Andorra, Ecuador and Zimbabwe.
The NAB said in the report that Namibia consumes about 5 067 tonnes of fresh bananas per year on average, valued at an average total annual value of N$49 million. The consumption of bananas has been on the increase over the past four years, rising from 5 084 tonnes during 2018/2019 to 6 394 tonnes during the 2022/2023 reporting period.
“On the one hand, Namibia does not export bananas, owing to the absence of domestic production.” The report added that the import price of bananas into Namibia has not been constant in most years, with the highest and the only constant import price of N$10 552 per tonne having been incurred between 2018/2019 and 2022/2023, whereas the lowest import price was incurred in 2022/2023 at N$ 8 959 per tonne.
Potential
Given the favourable climate and soil conditions in some parts of Namibia such as the Karst, north central, Kavango and Zambezi production zones, Namibia has the potential to grow bananas to gain an import substitution share from 5 067 average tonnes of the fruit imported per year, which generates an average of N$49 million per year, the NAB said.
The report noted that, citing the plant population of 2 222 plants per hectare and a yield of about 88.9 tonnes per hectare (AvaGro, 2023), Namibia could plant more than 57 hectares of bananas to meet the domestic market demand.
“Based on the global average banana yield of 23 tonnes per hectare, Namibia needs to plant 220 hectares of bananas, otherwise self-sufficiency in bananas would not be achieved.”
The board therefore urged Namibia to benchmark with South Africa, where the average banana yields stand at 62 tonnes per hectare.
Another opportunity is to conduct field trials on several banana varieties that can be suitable to the Namibian soil and climatic conditions so as to boost production and improve accessibility to banana planting materials, it said.
With the market share promotion scheme protection and Grow at Home Strategy policies in place, access to the formal domestic market is easier. Moreover, through ensuring international standards compliance, Namibia could also plant extra hectares of bananas aimed at tapping in potentially large export markets such as the United States of America, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands and China, the NAB said.
NAB and AvaGro recently successfully planted 2 222 tissue culture banana seedlings of two varieties during their first field trial on a one-hectare plot at Mango Vuluzi farm in the Singalamwe area, in the Zambezi production zone.