Startup for Bananas
Kerala-based agri-business startup Greenikk has launched country’s first full-stack supply chain which connects banana cultivators, traders and exporters on a single platform.
Greenikk, a startup co-founded by young techies Fariq Naushad and Previn Jacob, will seamlessly connect banana farmers, dealers, wholesalers, and B2B buyers in the country, the world’s largest banana producer.
“The platform will help farmers convert stems of the post-harvest banana plants into natural fibre and re-purpose the other leftovers as manure or poultry feed,” it stated. India is the world’s biggest banana producer and this would give a boost to India’s fruit exports.
Environment friendly initiative
Almost 20 crore post-harvest plant stems are being burnt or wasted every year, the Greenikk founders said their aim is to ensure supplementary income for farmers through value addition of the wasted materials, besides helping curb air pollution.
“Though countries like USA and the UK have just one-third of India’s production, they own most of the popular global brands of value-added banana products. India, with a huge capacity for banana exports, is yet to capture the huge global market for banana-based snacks, health and nutrient supplements. What we are looking at is to place Indian banana on a strong supply chain with global reach, which will ultimately benefit our farmers”, said Fariq and Previn.
The opportunity
India accounts for around 25 per cent of the world’s banana production, and the country’s exports of this fruit have grown eight-fold in the last nine years. The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) has reported that India produced 32.6 million tons of bananas in 2020 with a land area of 9.6 lakh hectares under cultivation.
Greenikk has built enablement centres (EC) in the major banana producing regions of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These centres would provide the farmers with required supports such as finance, seeds, crop advisory, insurance coverage, agri inputs, including weather tips, and market connect, covering the entire gamut of production and marketing of the fruit.
The company plans to set up such centres in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states.
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