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HomePosts Tagged "Banana"
Allied Industry, Sustainability, Textile industry

The wound dressing material presents a sustainable solution for wound care and suggests additional uses for the abundant banana plant

An eco-friendly wound dressing material made using banana fibres presents a sustainable solution for wound care.

India, the world’s largest banana-farming country, has an abundance of banana pseudo stems, discarded after harvest.

In a pioneering effort, scientists at the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, have transformed banana pseudo stems, often considered agricultural waste, into an eco-friendly wound dressing material.

Led by Prof. Devasish Chowdhury and Prof. (Retd) Rajlakshmi Devi, the research team, including Mridusmita Barman, a research scholar in the IASST-Deakin University Joint PhD programme, has ingeniously combined the banana fibres with biopolymers like chitosan and guar gum to create a multifunctional patch with excellent mechanical strength and antioxidant properties.

Taking it a step further, the researchers loaded the patch with an extract from the Vitex negundo L. plant, demonstrating the capabilities of plant extract-loaded banana fibre-biopolymer composite patch in vitro drug release and as antibacterial agents. All the materials used in creating this innovative dressing material are natural and locally available, making the manufacturing process simple, cost-effective, and non-toxic.

The wound dressing material presents a sustainable solution for wound care and suggests additional uses for the abundant banana plant, which may benefit farmers and minimize environmental impact.

“This investigation opens the door to a new era in wound healing, offering a low-cost, reliable, and environmentally friendly alternative that holds significant potential in biomedical research,” says Prof. Chowdhury. The banana fiber-biopolymer composite dressing could revolutionise wound care with its broad applications and positive impact on health and the environment. Elsevier recently published this work in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

The groundbreaking research has recently been published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules by Elsevier, further highlighting its significance in the scientific community.

The wound dressing material presents a sustainable

Acts & Schemes – Centre, AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India, People, Vegetables

If FPOs are successful in making farmers wealthy and debt-free, a single farmer will not commit suicide in Vidarbha.

At a recent workshop organised for FPOs in Vidarbha at the 13th Agrovision exhibition, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said, “Farmer’s Producer Companies (FPC) should work to make farmers prosperous, wealthy, debt-free, and happy. If FPOs are successful in making farmers wealthy and debt-free. In that case, a single farmer will not commit suicide in Vidarbha”.

Gadkari advised farmers to form companies to market and export their products.  Sharad Gadakh, Vice Chancellor of Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Agriculture University, Ravi Boratkar, Organising Secretary of Agrovision and Publisher of AgroSpectrum magazine, C D Mayee, Chairman, Advisory committee Agrovision, Ajay Kadu, General Manager, Agricultural Market Committee, Nagpur and other delegates were present at the conference. 

Gadkari said, “FPO is a power of Farmers; with the help of FPOs, farmers can sell their products, without depending on the government. FPO is the social economic transformation of farmers. Farmers should get training in the formation of FPO and market their products. Farmers should find their own market. Five thousand FPOs should be formed in Vidarbha for the development of farmers”.

Ajay Kadu advised farmers on forming FPOs. Till now 27 agro products in Maharashtra have received GI tags. 11 crops in Maharashtra including four from Vidarbha are part of the Maharashtra Agri-Business Network (MAGNET) Project. MAGNET-focused crops are Banana, Guava, Pomegranate, Sapota, Custard Apple, Strawberry, Orange, Sweet lime, Okra, Chilly (Green and Red), and floriculture crops. The state government collaborates with the Asian Development Bank for MAGNET. The Rs 1,000-crore project, which is aimed mainly at fruit and vegetable producers, aims to improve processing and minimise the losses in the perishables sector. Successful FPO owners were honoured by Gadkari.    

If FPOs are successful in making farmers

Agro Universities, Agrotech

The technology transfer will add new products to the market

The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu licensed and transferred the Basil Seed Suspended Clarified Banana Juice to the Thottiyam Banana Producer Company – Member of Tamil Nadu Banana Growers Federation in Tiruchirapalli.

Dr S Uma, Director, ICAR-NRC for Banana, Tiruchirapalli stated that the technology transfer and converting the over ripe banana to juice will add new products to the market. She said that the banana is grown in 6,000 Ha area in Trichy District and approximately 1 Lakh Hectare in Tamil Nadu.

Dr P Suresh Kumar, Principal Scientist, one of the inventors of the Technologies, ICAR-NRC for Banana briefed that the market is flooded with artificially flavoured, Synthetic Chia Seed Suspended Juice having the traces of fruit juice with a lot of added sugar. He emphasised that this is the first of its kind that the bureau has come-up with the novel technology of using the traditional basil seeds to make Suspended Clarified Banana Juice.

G Ajeethan, MD, FPO said that the technology from the ICAR-NRC for Banana will be used for producing the new beverage from banana.
The institute has also developed more than 55 different technologies using the different parts of banana including minimally processed foods, low sugar bakery and confectionary foods and utilising the wastes like peel, stem, corm and male flower for functional foods for the benefit of the entrepreneurs, consumers, etc.

The technology transfer will add new products

AgroPolicy, Trade

A meeting was recently held between Manoj Ahuja, Secretary (DA&FW) and Cameron MacKay Canadian High Commissioner Canada

The negotiations between National Plant Protection Organisations of India and Canada on market access for Indian Banana and Baby corn resulted in Canadian market access for these commodities. A meeting was recently held between Manoj Ahuja, Secretary (DA&FW) and Cameron MacKay Canadian High Commissioner Canada. It was informed that the export of fresh baby corn from India to Canada may begin from this month after the updation of directive D-95-28: Plant Protection Import and Domestic Movement Requirements for Corn and the Automated Import Reference System (AIRS).

Further, based on the technical information provided for fresh bananas by India, Canada has approved, bananas for entry into Canada with immediate effect. The decision of the Government of Canada would immensely benefit the Indian farmers growing these crops and would also enhance India’s export earnings.

A meeting was recently held between Manoj

Agro Universities, Agrotech

The transfer of technology is aimed at enhancing the banana production system in Tamil Nadu

The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu licensed and transferred its Technology – ‘A Micronutrient Mixture – Banana Shakti’ to the three different stakeholders, viz., KVK, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission (TNSRLM), Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, and KVK, Karur respectively.

Dr S Uma, Director, ICAR-NRC for Banana, Tiruchirapalli stressed addressing the micronutrient deficiency in the banana production system immediately with a more scientific approach. The technology has been widely used by the farmers across Tamil Nadu and is gaining momentum in the other states as well. Dr Uma stated that the technology is low-cost, more adaptable, trial-able and farmer-friendly.

Dr KJ Jeyabaskaran, Principal Scientist, ICAR-NRC for Banana & Inventor of the Technology underlined that the micronutrient mixture – Banana Shakti primarily corrects the micronutrient deficiency and at the same time, increases the “use efficiency” of the primary and secondary macronutrients in the Banana production system. It increases the productivity by 15 per cent to 20 per cent and enhances the quality too.

Dr Jeyabaskaran stated that with the investment of Rs 5,000 for its application, an additional net profit of Rs one Lakh per hectare could be accrued. He emphasized that it also improves the shelf life and reduces the skin splitting of banana fruits.

The transfer of technology is aimed at enhancing the banana production system in Tamil Nadu.

The transfer of technology is aimed at

Agro Universities, Agrotech

Technological know-how has been provided to the farmers of all the states

The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu along with its associate partner – Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat has licensed and transferred a Farmers’-friendly Macropropagation Technology to the Gujarat-based Jarvi Nursery.

Dr S Uma, Director, ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli & Inventor of the Technology stated that before commercialisation, the technology was tested in Karnataka, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar representing the different agro-climatic zones for its viability. She underlined that the technology’s success has been witnessed and technological know-how has been provided to the farmers of all the states.

Dr S Backiyarani and Dr MS Saraswathi, Principal Scientists And Co-Inventors of the Technology outlined that a minimum of 25 healthy, true to type, disease-free plants may be obtained from the single sucker within the period of three to four months and throughout the year without any seasonal barriers.

Technological know-how has been provided to the