Costa Rica's National Banana Corporation (Corbana) has begun a new program aimed at improving agricultural practices on baby banana plantations with view to boosting exports.

It is also trying to understand more about international markets in a bid to better understand the volatile levels of demand.

Speaking to www.freshfruitportal.com, Corbana general manager Jorge Sauma said the vast majority of baby banana, or Lady Finger, growers in the country were small-holder family producers, and many lacked information needed to grow their businesses.

"Most of the growers have plantations covering just a few hectares of land, and over the past few years there has been very little growth in the industry," he said.

"Until now there hasn't really been a continuous program to give them advice on aspects like good agricultural practices, farm management and soil management, and we would like to help them with that."

He said much of the practices used on Cavendish banana plantations were applicable to baby banana farms, adding the technical aspects would be manageable by the family growers.

One major advantage of the baby banana is that it is resistant to the Black Sigatoka fungus, which has caused widespread damage in many of the world's banana-growing regions.

"This disease resistance is very important, because many of these small producers are not able to fumigate," Sauma said.

In addition to improving growing practices, Sauma said many growers had complained about unstable levels of demand in international markets.

"The international market is very variable," he said.

"Sometimes there is lots of demand, but there are lots of times when there is very little. It’s not constant.

"We’re learning more about the market, contacting marketers to find them more markets. This fruit has good potential."

Key destinations for Costa Rican baby banana growers are currently the U.K., France and the Netherlands.

www.freshfruitportal.com