Uncategorized – Indigenous Colonial Banana

Iran’s Minister of Commerce Dr. Mahdi Ghazanfari denied reports appearing in Manila newspapers last month that the Philippines’ banana export contract with Iran may be cancelled.

The Minister of Commerce issued the statement during the 17th Press and News Agencies Festival held here with 247 participants from the academe and media from 48 countries.

Responding to a question related to trade sanctions and exports, Dr. Ghazanfari said that if four waves of “unfair and unjust” sanctions had failed to adversely affect Iran, then there was no reason to cancel any of its existing import or export contracts.

He said that gone are the days of the Cold War when smaller states were dependent on superpowers, adding that in this new era of globalization, buyers need only to find suppliers and arrive at a mutually agreeable price.

“In the year 2009, our exports to your country were worth $250 million; and in the same year, we had imports of $130 million from your country. You can be sure that there is no limitation for expanding our trade,” Ghazanfari said.

The Great Banana Challenge How to Dispense Healthy Snacks From A Vending Machine: Design a Fruit Elevator

The big push for vending machines to sell healthier snacks has overlooked something: It isn’t easy for a machine to deliver an unbruised banana.

A new wave of vending machines aims to convince Americans to snack on healthier foods. But selling fresh produce like bananas and broccoli comes with its own fresh challenges, WSJ‘s Ilan Brat reports.

The Wittern Group Inc., one of the biggest makers of vending machines, and fruit and vegetable marketer Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. say they are tackling this problem with a new machine specifically designed to dispense whole bananas and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

At Wittern’s headquarters in a suburb of Des Moines, refrigeration engineer Jerry Parle shows off the new device, its red and orange exterior festooned with Del Monte logos and pictures of whole pineapples and other fruit. The machine—which went on the market earlier this year—has two temperature zones. The top is loaded with bananas kept at about 57 degrees. The bottom zone—kept at about 34 degrees—holds packages of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables. Wittern says having the two zones helps more than double the shelf-life of bananas, from two or three days to five days or a week.

“This is a total new era for vending,” said Mr. Parle. “Getting rid of the stigma of junk food in vending machines is a good thing.”

New school regulations and workplace initiatives are targeting vending machines amid larger efforts to combat obesity and reduce health-care costs and absenteeism.

Hurricane Tomas batters bananas

St Vincent and the Grenadines has been hit by the storm, which has been rampaging across the Caribbean this weekend

Banana production has been seriously hit in the northern areas of St Vincent and the Grenadines after Hurricane Tomas smashed into the country this weekend.

That was the verdict of prime-minister Ralph Gonsalves, who told local media that not a single banana tree had been left standing in the northern part of the group of Caribbean Islands.

“Agriculture is gone completely. Not a banana tree is left standing in the north of the country now,” Mr Gonsalves told the Trinidad Express Newspaper. “Our farmers have been adversely affected.”

While initial damage assessments were still being carried out, Mr Gonsalves said that some 500 houses had been damaged, with hundreds of citizens stranded. However, it was the agricultural industry – with banana production employing more than 60 per cent of the workforce and accounting for more than 50 per cent of merchandise exports – that was of great concern.

Other uses, by-products of banana underscored

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, in a press conference conducted during the opening of the 12th Davao Trade Expo (DATE) at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Convention Hall on Friday, said the use of banana as extender to various food products can greatly help enhance the industry’s growth.

“Ang paggamit ng saging bilang extender ay napakalaking bagay. Halimbawa nito ay ang paghahalo ng saging sa sinaing (The use of banana as an extender is a big thing, like mixing it in rice),” he said.

On the other hand, Department of Trade and Industry-Davao City Field Office (DTI-DCFO) director Teolulo T. Pasawa said the introduction of Pinoy fries in the world market is another innovation that can boost the banana industry.

“Pinoy fries, which is actually made of saba variety of banana, ay pantapat natin sa French fries na gawa sa patatas (is equivalent to French fires from potatoes),” Pasawa said.

Pinoy fries are being produced by Sagrex Foods of renowned local businessman Ferdinand Y. Maranon.

In January 2005, Maranon registered the banana fries with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the microwavable frozen ripe banana two months after. Both products were regarded as “firsts” in the world, which means that anybody or any company who would like to sell the products should initially ask permission from Maranon.

Chiquita, Fresh Del Monte finances slip on weak banana market

Chiquita Brands International Inc. reported an unexpected, $8 million third-quarter loss, and Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. also posted disappointing quarterly results, with both companies hurt by slumping banana markets in Europe.

Weak salad sales, reflecting retailers’ shift toward cheaper, private-label products, also squeezed Chiquita’s Fresh Express subsidiary, which cut its 2010 profit forecast for the second time in four months.

Banana prices in Europe eroded late in the third quarter because of excessive imports from major African, Caribbean and Pacific producing regions, Chiquita’s chief executive officer, Fernando Aguirre, said in a statement announcing the company’s quarterly results Nov. 2.

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The idea of growing hardy banana trees in coastal gardens is to get them as tall as possible

In coastal gardens, it has become increasingly popular to grow the hardy banana tree ( Musa basjoo).

But this is a tree that, left unprotected from sub-zero temperatures during winter, will die down to the ground.

It will revive and bounce back up; however, the pseudo-trunk (what we recognize as the trunk) would be gone.

The idea of growing hardy banana trees in coastal gardens is to get them as tall as possible, so they simulate the look of a tropical island with massive banana leaves gently moving in the breeze.

To achieve this, you need to wrap your banana tree every fall to insulate it from cold damage.

If you do this, the integrity of the trunk is kept in shape and the tree will produce its new growth — the new giant leaves — from the top of the trunk.

Many people in Metro Vancouver have done this and have managed over years to establish large clumps of banana trees, some of which even bear fruit in a good summer, although the fruit is rarely edible.