Challenges and opportunities for smallholders in banana value chains

Description

Bananas and plantains play a major role in terms of global food security and household incomes in banana-producing countries. Banana production and yields are affected by a variety of factors, including availability of labour, soil degradation, access to clean planting material, management of pests and diseases, post-harvest losses, value addition and market access. This chapter reviews the literature on challenges in relation to pre-production, production, post-harvest management and marketing in domestic value chains of cooking bananas and plantains from the perspective of smallholders. The chapter takes stock of existing knowledge on these challenges, identifies opportunities for smallholders and other value chain actors for addressing these issues, and concludes with recommendations for future research.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Challenges along the value chain 3 Enabling an environment for addressing the challenges 4 Future trends 5 Conclusion 6 Where to look for further information 7 References