Keventer, one of the largest organised players in bananas, has set up two banana ripening centres - one in Kolkata and the other at Siliguri. The ripening centre at Barasat was constructed with an expenditure of about Rs.50 crores and the Siliguri centre was built with Rs.104 crores. From Barasat Centre they supply bananas mainly to Kolkata, Medinipur, Durgapur and other markets. Siliguri, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Gangtok and other markets are served from their Siliguri centre.
Keventer sells about 50 metric tonnes bananas every day all over West Bengal from these two centres.
Most of the bananas, available in the local markets, are ripened either with Calcium Carbide or Ethephon, which are very harmful to health, even may lead to Cancer as both the chemicals are carcinogenic. Identification of safe bananas from the market has become very difficult for the common people. Keventer has taken initiative for supplying bananas ripened with 'Ethylene', which is approved by Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), a recognised body of the Government, as the best as the best method for ripening bananas which cause no harm to health.
Keventer procures about 20,000 tonnes of bananas annually from Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad and Hooghly districts, about 50,000 farmers are directly benefitted with their business. It may be mentioned here that due to association with Keventer, the realisation of bananas from the farmers has gone up by at least 30-40% during the last 5 years.
Keventer sells about 50 metric tonnes bananas every day all over West Bengal from these two centres.
Most of the bananas, available in the local markets, are ripened either with Calcium Carbide or Ethephon, which are very harmful to health, even may lead to Cancer as both the chemicals are carcinogenic. Identification of safe bananas from the market has become very difficult for the common people. Keventer has taken initiative for supplying bananas ripened with 'Ethylene', which is approved by Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), a recognised body of the Government, as the best as the best method for ripening bananas which cause no harm to health.
Keventer procures about 20,000 tonnes of bananas annually from Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad and Hooghly districts, about 50,000 farmers are directly benefitted with their business. It may be mentioned here that due to association with Keventer, the realisation of bananas from the farmers has gone up by at least 30-40% during the last 5 years.