West Asia war puts banana growers on a slippery ground
Geopolitical tensions in West Asia are disrupting banana exports from India, causing significant fruit damage due to extended transit times. The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana is now working with exporters to implement new protocols to delay ripening and preserve fruit quality during longer shipping routes.
Why it matters
The conflict highlights how regional geopolitical instability can disrupt global supply chains and impact the livelihoods of agricultural exporters.
With the geopolitical situation in West Asia remaining volatile, a section of banana growers in India has been hit by the abrupt closure of export markets and regular trade routes due to the Iran-U.S. war, leading to large consignments of the fruit being stranded in overseas ports.
“India was a major exporter of Grand Naine bananas to Iran and Iraq, as also nendran to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries before the war. The transit time for shipping used to be just one week to 10 days. Now, due to political tensions and the closing of shipping at the Strait of Hormuz, the consignments are held up for 20 to 25 days, causing a lot of fruit damage,” R. Selvarajan, director, ICAR–National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) told The Hindu .
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