Banana is the common name for a type of fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. Banana is amongst the most versatile and most widely eaten fruits in the world today. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. Bananas can be eaten raw though some varieties are generally cooked first. Banana has various uses that can be turned into many processed products. In addition to banana exporting, processing banana into different products could mean additional income for banana farmers. Banana powder has a great potential for commercialization. It has a high sugar and low starch content and can be used as a substitute for fresh banana in making traditional cakes or their premixes as well as in the processing of banana snacks, crackers or crisps. The quality of banana powder is determined by the color, flavor, texture and moisture content. These are affected by the varieties of bananas and processing operations specially blanching process. India ranks first in world production of fruits and ranks first in mango and banana with more than 40% and 20% production respectively. After China, India is second largest producer of vegetables and accounts for 15 % of World production of vegetables. Almost all varieties of vegetables are grown in India. The Indian food industry is estimated to be worth over US$ 200 billion and is expected to grow to US$ 310 billion. By 2015 India is one of the world’s major food producers but accounts for only 1.7 per cent (valued at US$ 7.5 billion) of world trade in this sector – this share is slated to increase to 3 per cent (US$ 20 billion) by 2015. New entrepreneurs can well venture in this sector.
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