Bananas are one of the most widely consumed fruits globally. Many people mistakenly believe the banana plant is a tree, but its cultivation involves a unique agricultural process. The entire process of growing, protecting, harvesting, and commercially ripening this soft, starchy fruit is a carefully controlled sequence designed for international transport and market quality, ensuring the fruit arrives ready to ripen uniformly for the consumer.
Starting the Banana Plant: Propagation and Structure
The banana plant, classified under the genus Musa, is technically the world’s largest herb because it lacks a woody stem. What appears to be a trunk is actually a pseudostem, formed by tightly packed, overlapping leaf sheaths. This fleshy pseudostem is sturdy, capable of supporting a fruit bunch weighing 50 kilograms or more.
Commercial banana varieties, such as the Cavendish, do not contain viable seeds. Farmers use asexual propagation to start new plants from a large, underground stem structure known as a rhizome or corm.
New plants are created by separating offshoots called “pups” or “suckers” from the mature plant’s corm. The best material for new plantings are “sword suckers,” which have narrow, cone-shaped leaves and a strong connection to the parent plant. The separated pup is then planted to begin the cycle anew, ensuring the genetic consistency of the commercial crop.
Cultivation: The Growth Cycle and Field Care
The banana plant requires consistently warm, humid, tropical conditions, with ideal temperatures ranging between 26°C and 30°C. The growth cycle, from planting a sucker to harvesting, typically takes nine to eighteen months depending on the variety and climate. Banana plants demand a high volume of water, needing 100 to 250 millimeters monthly, though proper drainage is required to prevent root damage.
Once the plant is mature, a flowering stalk, or inflorescence, emerges from the center of the pseudostem, a process known as “shooting.” This stalk develops a large, purple flower bud, called the “bell,” which opens to reveal clusters of tiny banana flowers. The female flowers develop into rows of fruit, called “hands,” which collectively form the large hanging bunch.
A specific technique called bagging is implemented after the flower has set fruit. A large, perforated polyethylene bag, often blue, is placed over the developing bunch. Bagging protects the fruit from insects, pests, and physical scarring. The blue color helps filter ultraviolet rays and maintains a slightly elevated temperature, promoting faster and more uniform fruit development.
Harvesting and Commercial Ripening
Bananas are always harvested while they are still green and immature. Allowing the fruit to ripen fully on the plant causes it to spoil or split, making it unsuitable for transport. The fruit is ready for harvest when the individual bananas, or “fingers,” have plumped out and the color has changed from dark to light green.
The heavy bunch is manually cut from the plant, and the parent pseudostem is then cut down, as it only produces fruit once. Harvested bunches are transported rapidly to a packing facility. Here, the hands of bananas are separated, washed to remove sap, and packed into boxes. The fruit is then cooled to approximately 13°C for refrigerated transport, halting the natural ripening process for up to 20 days.
Upon reaching the destination market, the green bananas are moved into specialized, airtight ripening chambers. To initiate uniform ripening, the naturally occurring plant hormone ethylene gas is introduced at controlled concentrations (typically 100 to 150 parts per million). The ripening process is managed by regulating temperature, humidity (90-95%), and the concentration of carbon dioxide produced by the fruit. This controlled exposure ensures starches convert to sugars, changing the peel from green to yellow over four to eight days.