Banana and plantain

Banana is the third leading tropical fruit crop. Some 85% of what is produced is consumed locally, and it therefore plays a significant role in food security in the African, Latin American and Asian countries where it is grown. It is also the world's most exported fruit, and is economically and socially vital for producing and exporting countries, where it generates substantial revenue and is a major source of jobs, primarily in rural areas. CIRAD therefore works to help players in the banana and plantain value chains to innovate with a view to greater sustainability, including on a territory scale.

CIRAD provides professionals with products and services. It also publishes books and scientific publications.

The Market News Service

The Ecological Functioning and Sustainable Management of Banana and Pineapple Cropping Systems Research Unit (UPR GECO) Market News Service is a study unit that works closely with professionals in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector worldwide. It publishes the quarterly journal FruiTrop, which reports on international trade in tropical fruits (for instance bananas, avocados, citrus fruits and pineapple), weekly notes on the banana market, and a range of information bulletins for economic operators within the value chains concerned.
Available in French and English, in print and electronic formats.

FruiTrop website

Vitropic SA

Vitropic is a CIRAD subsidiary specializing in banana, pineapple and ornamental in vitro plantlets. It produces disease-free planting material and provides producers with technical assistance, information, advice and expertise.
>> Vitropic website

Other products and services

Banana and plantain products and services

Journal Fruits

A bi-monthly journal on tropical and Mediterranean fruits.
Fruits website

Books and documents

Le bananier plantain : enjeux socio-économiques et techniques, Moïse Kwa, Ludovic Temple (ed.), Quæ, Agricultures tropicales en poche, 2019.
Développement durable et filières tropicales, Estelle Biénabe, Denis Loeillet, Alain Rival (ed.), Quæ, 2016.
Le bananier, un siècle d’innovations techniques, André Lassoudière, Quæ, 2012.
Le bananier, un enjeu mondial, André Lassoudière, Pour la Science, issue 400, February 2011.
L’histoire du bananier, André Lassoudière, Quæ, 2010.
Banana protocols, Fruits, Special Issue, 2009.
Le bananier et sa culture, André Lassoudière, Quæ, 2007.
New guides for better banana production, Endure, 2010