Cold chain, poor logistics threaten banana exports

Nigeria’s ambition to turn its substantial banana production into a major export industry is being undermined by inadequate storage, weak cold-chain logistics, limited value addition and gaps in quality control, stakeholders have said. Although Nigeria ranks among the world’s largest banana-producing countries, its formal export performance remains extremely small compared with its production volume, highlighting the gap between agricultural output and participation in the international market. FAOSTAT-based data put Nigeria’s banana production at 6.91 million metric tons in 2024, making it the world’s sixth-largest producer, after India, China, Indonesia, Ecuador and Brazil. The ranking, however, should be interpreted cautiously because international production statistics may differ in their treatment of bananas, plantains, bunch weights and country reporting methods. A CRISIL Intelligence projection cited by India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) reportedly places Nigeria’s 2025 banana production at approximately 7.4 million tons.