AP ranks first in banana production

Vijayawada: As per the statistics published by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for the year 2021, India was the largest producer of bananas in the world accounting for 26.5 per cent of the world banana production.

As per the final estimates of 2021-22, Andhra Pradesh is the leading producer of bananas in the country with estimated production of 56.84 lakh tonnes, which accounted for 16.5 per cent of country’s total banana production during the year.

As part of the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, the Central government is implementing cluster development programme and Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh was selected for the pilot project of CDP implementation.

For banana production, the Central government’s department of horticulture is providing an assistance of 40 per cent of the maximum cost of Rs 3 lakh per hectare towards expenditure of planting and cost of drip irrigation.

This was revealed by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Thomar in reply to a question raised by MP V Vijayasai Reddy in Rajya Sabha on Friday.