Classification, integration of preliminary processing technology in banana producing areas of China

Abstract: Banana is the worldwide 2nd fruit with the biggest trade，it is also the only one of top five fruits with trade deficit compared with the other four, like apple, citrus, pear and peach, having great contributions to fruits export business in China. The import quantity of banana is continuing to rise even as the increasing production recent years, meanwhile the loss of banana in its producing area is approaching one million, almost two times of its export quantity in China, which suggests that loss reduction will contribute to shrink the trade deficit. Based on the statistics, more than 700 projects about banana research were approved by the Chinese governments and almost 500 scientific research institutions and universities were involved. However, few of them were about loss reduction in producing areas. Further researches about the exiting preliminary processing technologies may reduce banana loss in its producing area, then trying a new way to break through the bottleneck problem of banana industries and improve banana industry in China.This study has collected all harvesting, plantation transportation, commercialization, storage and transport technologies used currently in banana producing area, do further classification for all those preliminary processing technologies, and integrated four principal technology chains, then gave more information about the current Chinese banana production industry. Compared with other well-developed banana producers in the world, the gaps about large-scale production, market internationalization, technology integration, equipment serialization, facilities supporting and logistics professionalization of Chinese banana production industry are still obvious, which directly induced Chinese banana products showing no international competitiveness, no high-end brands, and only sharing the lower and middle markets. However, large-scale banana plantations are not fully accords with the retails-dominated condition in China, and it is still far away from current situation. Based on that status, how to use the current technologies to promote banana industries upgrade is a tough issue in China. This study attempt to give a feasible way to decrease the loss of banana in its producing area by integrating pre-existing technologies and optimizing organizational modes, and could be used as a reference for the development of Chinese banana industry now and in the future.Actually, how to reduce loss in producing area is a common issue in almost every fruit and vegetable industry, and currently speaking, there is no solution. The research method used in this study, starting from the existing technologies, collecting all harvesting, plantation transportation, commercialization, and storage and transport technologies, classified and integrated, then matched with organizational modes, might be giving a new thought to the other fruits and vegetables industries researches. Taking full advantages of the current technologies could not just give an orientation to information polices and regulations, implement industries development strategy, and upgrade industrial structure, also avoiding the overlapping researches resources and government investments. Fully understanding of preliminary processing technologies and engineering, classification, integration of preliminary processing technology in producing areas could be an attempt to face the loss problems of fruits and vegetables in producing area. Reducing loss and improving quality of fruits and vegetables in the producing area could drive the whole industry development.