August 18-19, 2022 – Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University organized training on: “Management Guidelines after Harvest and Value Adding in Banana Manufacturing”. The training was under the implementation of U2T for BCG, Root Economy and Society Development by Circular Economy, at Non Sila-at Monastery, Pa Manao Sub-district, Ban Fang District, Khon Kaen. The objectives were to increase the competitive potentiality and capacity of the BCG production and service sector and to develop and extend the products and services of the community by using technologies and innovations to increase product values for sustainability and environmental friendliness.
The training increases knowledge related to management of banana after harvest and promotes manufacturing of banana to upgrade and add values to banana products of the community. Participants were banana growers in the community. The aim was to upgrade the quality and add values to their banana based on the principles of BCG. The training featured special talks on the following topics: 1) the problems in selling fresh bananas such as bruises, inconsistent ripe, damages from insects, moisture and inappropriate storage, or selling prices that are not very high; 2) management and reduction of loss after harvest; 3) manufacturing by different methods such as using solar heat, hot-air dryers and using radiation.
The training was organized on the ground that the area in Pa Manao Sub-district is grown with a lot of bananas. Although bananas can be sold, they do not sell at a high price and suffer short storage time. Therefore, the fruits can be easily damaged and have to be discarded because of inconsistency when they are ripen, with black patches and bruises, which also happen from transportation as well. The training was therefore organized in order to find suitable ways to manage bananas after harvest and methods to manufacture bananas to add values to the products such as sweet banana chips, etc. so that they can be kept for a longer time. The other purpose was to add values and quality to bananas.
Assoc. Prof. Panupon Hongpakdee, Ph.D. and Asst. Prof. Supatchaya Nampila, Ph.D., lecturers from the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, are responsible for the Project at Pa Manao Sub-district. Dr. Athittaya Duangsupan, another lecturer from the Department of Plant Sciences, Textiles and Design was the guest speaker at the training.
It was expected that the training would benefit the people in Pa Manao Sub-district and that they will be able to store bananas after harvest. The trainees were also encouraged to manufacture bananas into different products and add qualities and values to their products by reducing loss after harvest.
News: Wiyadee Tanyateerapong and Rattiyakorn Klangmuangkhwa
