Induced Ripening of Banana for Increased Marketability and Storage

Ripening Solutions for Quality and Efficiency

The technology of "Induced Ripening of Banana for Increased Marketability and Storage" is a method designed to enhance the ripening process of bananas, specifically dessert bananas, to ensure they are market-ready and have an extended shelf life. This technology is crucial for the banana industry, which often harvests bananas prematurely to minimize transportation damage. In this process, bananas are artificially ripened using various chemical agents, most notably ethylene gas. Commercial ripening chambers provide controlled environments where temperature, humidity, and ethylene gas concentration are precisely regulated. This controlled ripening ensures that bananas reach optimal ripeness and maintain uniform quality.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

8•8

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 8/9

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

The poor: Positive low

Under 18: Positive low

Women: Positive low

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Soil quality: Does not affect soil health and fertility

Water use: Same amount of water used

Carbon footprint: More carbon released

Problem

Post harvest losses: Banana producers can lose significant quantities of fruit through transportation damage and spoilage.
Premature harvesting: Farmers may harvest bananas before full maturity to reduce transportation damage, affecting market readiness.
Inconsistent ripening: Traditional ripening practices can produce non uniform maturity and quality.
Limited ripening control: Producers and sellers may have limited ability to control when bananas become ready for the market.
Reduced marketability: Poorly ripened or damaged bananas can reduce the value and market potential of production.
Unreliable supply of ready to eat fruit: Fruit sellers may struggle to maintain a consistent supply that responds to consumer demand.
Inefficient traditional methods: Traditional ripening practices can be time consuming and less suitable for managing larger quantities.
Environmental concerns: Some traditional ripening practices can create environmental problems through the use of burning leaves or kerosene.

Solution

Reduced post harvest losses: Induced ripening helps reduce losses associated with transportation damage and spoilage.
Improved fruit quality: Controlled temperature, humidity, and ethylene concentration support uniform ripening and consistent quality.
Better ripening control: The technology allows the timing and speed of ripening to be adjusted according to market requirements.
Improved marketability: More consistent ripeness increases the quantity of bananas suitable for sale.
More reliable supply: Controlled ripening helps producers and sellers provide ready to eat bananas more consistently.
Efficient post harvest management: Commercial ripening chambers provide a controlled approach to managing banana ripening at larger volumes.
Improved response to consumer demand: Ripening schedules can be adjusted to better match the timing of market demand.
More sustainable ripening practice: Controlled ethylene ripening offers an alternative to traditional methods involving burning leaves or kerosene.

Key points to design your program

Induced Ripening of Banana replaces unsafe and inconsistent traditional ripening practices with controlled ripening systems that produce uniform, high-quality, market-ready fruit. It strengthens post-harvest value chains by reducing losses, improving food safety, enhancing fruit quality, and enabling producers, traders, wholesalers, retailers, processors, and ripening service providers to supply markets more efficiently. The technology can be integrated into post-harvest management, market development, food security, and agri-food processing programmes, supporting SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). It also creates entrepreneurship opportunities for women and youth through ripening services, fruit aggregation, storage, trading, and marketing.

To successfully integrate this technology, consider the following key actions:

Identify major banana production and marketing hubs where post-harvest losses, inconsistent ripening, and poor market timing reduce product value, and establish demonstration activities to showcase safe and controlled ripening technologies.
Establish partnerships with IITA, farmer organizations, traders, wholesalers, retailers, processors, extension services, market authorities, and private-sector operators to coordinate technology deployment and strengthen post-harvest value chains.
Invest in ripening chambers, storage facilities, temperature and humidity control systems, and equipment required for the safe application of regulated ripening agents, ensuring facilities are strategically located near target markets with reliable access to energy and essential inputs.
Strengthen technical capacity by training producers, traders, ripening operators, and extension agents on controlled ripening techniques, post-harvest handling, food safety standards, quality assurance, and ripening chamber operation and maintenance.
Develop commercial linkages among producers, traders, wholesalers, retailers, processors, and ripening service providers to improve supply chain coordination, product availability, and market responsiveness.
Promote entrepreneurship opportunities for women and youth in fruit aggregation, ripening services, storage, trading, and marketing.
Monitor programme performance through indicators such as post-harvest loss reduction, fruit quality, adoption of safe ripening practices, market volumes, income generation, and the participation of women and youth.

17,000 USD

Industrial semi-automated ripening chambers of 5 tones of banana

IP

Trademark

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology's development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology's readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Used by some intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Benin	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Burkina Faso	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Burundi	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Cameroon	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Côte d’Ivoire	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Democratic Republic of the Congo	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ethiopia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Guinea	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Malawi	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Rwanda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Sierra Leone	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Somalia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Togo	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Zambia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid	–	–	–	–
Semiarid	–	–	–	–
Subhumid	–		–
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 3: good health and well-being

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 1: no poverty

1. Introduction of Ethylene

Prepare a ripening chamber or room suitable for inducing the ripening of bananas.
Generate ethylene, a ripening agent, using chemicals like Ethephon (Trade name Ethrel) with a concentration of 2000 ppm.
Dip the bananas in the ethylene solution for 3 minutes. Ensure thorough coverage.

2. Control Humidity