Where are Bananas Grown?

Did you know that bananas are the world’s largest herb, the world’s most popular fruit, and the fourth most widely consumed food for humans?

There are several banana plantations all over 130 banana-producing countries worldwide. These plantations are basically a commercial agricultural facility found in countries that enjoy tropical climates. While banana plants may grow in diverse climatic condition, banana plantations are primarily found in equatorial countries that include Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia. The key elements for growing bananas are a good soil, a good climate, and a good drainage.

• India- While India grows the most bananas they are not a large exporter since most of their grown bananas are mainly consumed in India alone. In 2009, India represents 28% of the worldwide crop although fruits are mostly consumed domestically.
• Asia- Asian countries took the lead in banana production during the 1990s. Asia is well-represented by China, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand as the top banana-producing countries.
• Latin and South American- In these regions, major banana growers and exporters are Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico, while other Latin American countries export smaller quantities of bananas.
• Africa- Burundi is the major grower of bananas in Africa, while Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire are Africa’s major exporting countries.

As of 2010, India remains to be the principal grower of bananas worldwide and also one of the top commercial exporters worldwide. They export more than twice the quantities of bananas than China. The overall leading cultivators of bananas for export are India, China, Philippines, Brazil and Ecuador. Bananas are transported to other importing regions like Europe, Canada, Russia, Japan and the United States. To obtain maximum shelf life over long distance shipments, banana harvest comes before the fruit has reached its maturity. Bananas require careful handling, rapid transportation, cooling, and refrigerated shipping.

We have available data on banana exports dating back to 2007: it may have changed in the meantime and we urge you to have a look at the official FDA website for updated figures.

With that said, banana crop distribution generally doesn’t change much from year to year and the following list is probably still very accurate.

What countries do bananas grow in?

Top banana producing nations – 2007 (in million metric tons)
India	21.77
China	8.04
Philippines	7.48
Brazil	7.10
Ecuador	6.00
Indonesia	5.46
Tanzania	3.50
Costa Rica	2.08
Thailand	2.00
Mexico	1.96
Burundi	1.60
Guatemala	1.57
Vietnam	1.36
Kenya	1.19
Bangladesh	1.00
Honduras	0.91
Egypt	0.88
Papua New Guinea	0.87
Cameroon	0.86
Uganda	0.62
World total	72.5
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations