{"id":17875,"date":"2025-08-31T03:04:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T03:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17875"},"modified":"2025-08-31T03:04:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T03:04:27","slug":"banana-harvest-hits-record-317000-tonnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=17875","title":{"rendered":"Banana harvest hits record 317,000 tonnes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Pakistan&#8217;s banana harvest has surged to an unprecedented level, more than doubling in 15 years to reach a record 317,000 tonnes in 2024-25, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).<\/p>\n<p>Official data available with Wealth Pakistan shows that banana output stood at just 139,000 tonnes in 2010-11, but steady growth \u2013 especially in the past five years \u2013 has made it the country&#8217;s fastest-growing crop. The most dramatic leap came in 2021-22, when production jumped from 142,000 tonnes to 216,000 tonnes, an increase of more than 50 percent in a single year. Output then climbed to 292,000 tonnes in 2022-23, 311,000 tonnes in 2023-24, and touched the provisional record of 317,000 tonnes this season.<\/p>\n<p>This rapid rise marks a major transformation in fruit farming, as growers shift towards bananas due to strong demand and better returns compared to traditional crops. Waheed Ahmed, Patron-in-Chief of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetables Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, said the growth highlights the crop&#8217;s export potential.<\/p>\n<p>He noted, however, that Pakistan&#8217;s share in the $14 billion global banana trade remains negligible, with exports worth just $27.4 million. He urged the creation of a full value chain model covering cultivation, processing, packaging, and distribution to reduce post-harvest losses, improve quality, and boost farmer incomes. He also called for large-scale corporate farms and modern pack houses to ensure premium quality bananas for international markets.<\/p>\n<p>Junaid Haider Shah, a Sindh-based producer, exporter, and processor, highlighted the economic shift driven by new banana varieties. Farmers&#8217; per-acre income, previously Rs150,000 to Rs200,000 seven years ago, has now reached nearly Rs500,000. The new varieties are fungus-resistant, have longer shelf life, and are far more lucrative than older strains.<\/p>\n<p>He said bananas are now more profitable than mangoes, with exports rising sharply.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan&#8217;s banana harvest has surged to an unprecedented level, more than doubling in 15 years to reach a record 317,000 tonnes in 2024-25, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Official data available with Wealth Pakistan shows that banana output stood at just 139,000 tonnes in 2010-11, but steady growth \u2013 especially in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17875\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}