Bananas are actually plants that grow in clusters on stalks up to 6 meters high. They are harvested green and transported to ripening rooms where they turn yellow within 5 days. Bananas are a staple food in tropical regions due to their nutrients and easy digestion. The Cavendish banana is the most widely produced, while plantains are used for cooking. India is the largest producer while Chiquita and Dole control much of the export industry from Central America and the Caribbean.

1. Bananas
Shannon Rosas
Diana Pedraza
Kevin Olascoaga
Javier Lagunas

2. Introduction

3. physical features of a banana plant.
They´re actually plants.
They´re made up of stalks.
A stalk can be about 30 cm.
A banana plant can grow up to 6 meters in height.
It has up to 20 long and wide leaves.

4. physical features of a banana plant.
Bananas hang in clusters.
10 to 20 bananas.
A warm tropical climate.
Year after planting.

5. Harvest
Bananas are harvested while they are still green. In this
state the banana's flesh is white and cannot be eaten.
The green fruits are taken to the nearest port, where
they are put on container ships with cooling containers
on board.
When the bananas arrive at their destination they are
loaded onto trucks or railway cars and brought to sellers
who store them in special ripening rooms. From this time
on it takes bananas about five days to ripen and get the
yellow colour and taste we all know. As the fruit ripens
the flesh also becomes sweet.

6. Banana as a staple diet
In many tropical regions of Africa, South America and Asia,
bananas are a main food for the population.
They have many nutrients that people need. In addition to 75
% water, a banana contains sugar, proteins and vitamins. It gives
you quick energy and can be digestedfairly easily.
In the western world bananas are eaten as snacks in-between
meals or together with cereals. In other countries they are used
to make wine or beer.

7. Types of bananas
There are up to a thousand
different kinds of bananas. The
Cavendish banana is the most
widely produced and eaten fruit
in the world. Bananas that are
used for cooking are called
plantains.

8. Economic Value
Bananas are the fourth most valuable food crop in the world,
after wheat, rice and corn.
India is the world’s largest banana producer, followed by
Uganda, China, the Philippines, Ecuador and Brazil.
About 140 million tons are harvested annually, however only a
small percentage of the actual production is exported.

9. Banana Trade
 Today the banana trade is a 5 billion dollar industry.
 Large companies like Chiquita and Dole control most of the
banana exporting industry. Especially in Central America and the
Caribbean workers suffer from poor working conditions and get low
wages.
 For decades EU countries preferred bananas from their former
colonies in Africa and the Caribbean and placed taxes on
imported South American bananas.

10. Fun Facts
 It is impossible to keep the mouth
closed while you have consumed
sprite and a banana, since a reaction
produces to itself efervecente that
prevents you from containing the gas
and you might be sick.
 Uganda is the major consumer of
banana in the world for person, each
one consumes 500 pounds a year.
 The Americans eat mas bananas that
any other fruit, with an index of
consumption of 26.6 pounds per year.
 Approximately 1000 different types of
bananas exist in the world nowadays,
but the majority they are uneatable.
 The bananas are naturally radioactive,
this owes to that they contain
relatively great quantity of potassium

11. Thanks for your attention