Fiji Dried Bananas Might
pp. 71-73 · Read in the full issue
Make A Comeback
The dried banana industry may be revived in Fiji soon.
B. Proweller who was principal in the last commercial ed banana venture in Fiji it had a short life in 1947 satisfied that the problems that existed then can now be ercome if the finance is forthcoming and if the Fiji growers ; prepared to take a share in what could be a valuable alter tive industry.
l mistake last time, according :. Proweller, was in basing the try on Viti Levu where it eted with the unprocessed la export trade. To be success he industry must have ample ies of bananas at all times — just in the intervals between lents of fresh fruit overseas. . Proweller’s project calls for pital of £lOO,OOO, of which he :ts to find 51 per cent., partly is own account, and partly in Jnited States. The remaining ;r cent, of the capital he hopes be forthcoming from invest by villages in the producing i, through the Fijian Develop ; Fund, which has available a of £40,000 for investment this and the remainder by a loan the Agricultural and In rial Loans Board.
'. Proweller left for the United 5s on August 24 following talks
with Fiji Government officials, during which he received their blessing, and the assurance ox a loan of £20,000 from the Loans Board subject to the other finance being found. , -- In the United States Mr.
Proweller also plans to look ovei the latest type of drying machinery.
Under the plan now envisaged, drying plants would be set up at Koro, Levuka, Savusavu, and probably Kadavu— though there are certain problems of banana supply at the latter island.
One of the weaknesses of earlier dried banana projects, which were aimed at the NZ market, was in sufficient publicity at the marketing end. Housewives unfamiliar with the product, simply <l ld ” ot how to make use of it. This aspect will be taken care of t hls o tu JJ£ although there is already a big (Continued on page 71)
FIJI'S NEWEST INDUSTRY? The fresh fruit; the dried product; and the [?]ried packed with cellophane wrapping and ready for export. Inset: Mr. Bonsh weller.
dried banana market in the United States and Europe.
The dried banana industry started after the war in Western Samoa and in the Cook Islands, failed because the method of pro cessing permitted infection by a small weevil. This problem would not arise under the proposed drying method to be employed in Fiji.
The product produced in the Cook Islands on a small scale for
many years past has always been in the form of a dozen or so dried fruit wrapped in banana leaf and tied firmly at each end in a sort of large bon-bon. The Fiji product will be properly packed in sealed cellophane wrappers.
A well produced dried banana is soft, flexible, and darkish brown in colour and about the dimensions of a stick of trade tobacco. The Fiji fruit will be dried whole. The fruit have to be completely ripe.
The product is described as delicious, eaten raw like figs or dates, used in cakes, or with corn flakes and milk as a breakfast food.
Mr. Proweller first went to Fiji from Switzerland, in 1937 and be came a British subject in 1945. He holds residential status in Fiji but also spends a good deal of his time in New Zealand.