India is a second largest producers of fruit in the world . There has been significant increase in the export of fresh fruits during the past few years.Banana is the most important fruit crop of India having great socio-economic significance. It contributed 31% of the total food production in India. World production of banana is estimated at 48.9 million tonnes out of which 10.4 million tonnes, is contributed by India. India ranks No.1 in production followed by Brazil (5.5 million tonnes), Indonesia (2.3 million tonnes), Philippines (3.8 million tonnes), China (1.9 million tonnes) and Australia (1.8 million tonnes). In India, Maharashtra state is the largest banana producing state followed by Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and others. In Tamil Nadu banana is cultivated in 83,308 ha with an annual production of 2,782 million tonnes. The productivity in Tamil Nadu is 33.39 tonnes/ha compared to 38.1 tonnes/ha in Gujarat. |
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