Research efforts are underway by Fiji's Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways, aiming to reestablish the country's banana exports to New Zealand and other nearby nations. The endeavor seeks to overcome the hiatus in banana exports that began in the early 1970s, attributed to cyclones and diseases, after bananas were a significant export in the 1950s-60s.
Dr. Shalendra Prasad, director of Crop Research at the ministry, highlighted the dual focus on reviving banana cultivation and ensuring the production of disease-free seedlings. Despite bananas being available in the domestic market, the export sector has remained dormant since the 1970s. Dr. Prasad noted the absence of an approved export pathway for bananas to New Zealand, contrasting with the existing pathway for plantains (vudi), necessitating research and trade facilitation efforts to access the New Zealand market.
A strategy for generating clean, disease-free planting material involves tissue culture, with the Navuso Agricultural Technical Institute recently receiving 500 tissue-cultured banana planting materials from the Agriculture Ministry and the Taiwan Technical Mission. These seedlings, produced at the Centre of Agricultural Technology Transfer laboratory in Nausori by TTM specialists, are designated for a demonstration farm in Navuso.
Source: fijitimes.com.fj