Azeem Ahmed Khan

Banana has emerged as Pakistan’s fastest-growing fruit crop and its harvest climbed to record 317,000 tonnes in 2024-25, compared to 139,000 tonnes in 2010-11.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data available with WealthPK, the most notable leaps occurred in recent years, particularly from 2020-21 onwards, when banana output jumped from 142,000 tonnes to 216,000 tonnes in 2021-22, an increase of more than 50% in just one year. Since then, production has maintained momentum, reaching 292,000 tonnes in 2022-23, and 311,000 tonnes in 2023-24, before hitting the provisional record high of 317,000 tonnes in 2024-25.

This consistent upward trend reflects agricultural innovation as farmers increasingly turn to banana cultivation in response to rising market demand. Waheed Ahmed, Patron-in-Chief of All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetables Exporters, Importers, and Merchants Association, believes there is much more potential for Pakistani banana in the international market.

Pakistan needs to make more efforts to increase its share in the $14 billion international banana export market because its current $27.4 million export is too little, he added. Talking to WealthPK, Waheed emphasised the importance of building a comprehensive banana value chain model that covers every stage from cultivation to processing, packaging, and distribution.

Such a model, he said, would help improve quality, reduce post-harvest losses, and ensure better returns for farmers. He also called for an aggressive marketing plan to identify and engage potential international buyers, strengthen Pakistan’s presence in existing markets, and explore new destinations for the country’s bananas.

Waheed believes the development of large-scale corporate model farms are essential for production of high-yielding premium quality exportable bananas in the country. He said state-of-the-art banana pack houses should also be established to clean, sort, grade, pack, store, and export the fruit.

A banana pack house serves as a link between farms and markets, making sure the fruit stays fresh, unspoiled, and ready for export, he added. The association’s chief has also called for wider use of tissue culture to multiply popular banana varieties, saying advanced micro-propagation techniques could rapidly increase the supply of disease-free, uniform plants.

This, he added, would help farmers adopt high-yield varieties such as Cavendish, improve productivity and strengthen Pakistan’s export potential. Junaid Haider Shah, a banana producer, exporter and processor in Sindh province, told WealthPK that the introduction of new banana varieties had significantly boosted income for Pakistani farmers and enhanced the country’s export potential.

“About seven years ago, per-acre income from banana was around Rs150,000 to Rs200,000, which has now increased to Rs500,000 due to the new varieties as almost all new farmers are planting them.” Junaid noted that the banana crop has now become more lucrative than mango, with exports rising sharply as the new varieties are resistant to fungus and have a longer shelf life.

“As a result, both demand and prices have gone up in domestic and international markets,” he added. He said the average yield of new banana varieties is very high compared to traditional ones, which are 50 to 60 years old and no longer competitive. “The banana crop is now available year-round, with first fruiting in 18 months and continuous production thereafter, though output dips slightly in winter,” he explained.

According to Tendata, a digital international trade integrated service provider, the top five exporters of bananas in dollar terms accounted for 57.4% of the global banana trade during 2023-24. Ecuador earned $3.8 billion followed by Philippines ($1.2 billion), Costa Rica ($1.2 billion), Guatemala ($1.2 billion) and The Netherlands ($926.3 million).

According to EXIMPEDIA, the top five banana producing countries in 2023 were India (30.5 million tonnes), followed by China (12.1 million tonnes), Indonesia (7.2 million tonnes), Brazil (7.0 million tonnes), and Ecuador (6.5 million tonnes).

Credit: INP-WealthPk