The peninsular banana of the MP1 variety is sold at Walmart in the United States

The production is part of the first exportable crops that leave Musatec.

For about six weeks, the chain's supermarketsWalmartof Florida, on the east coast of the United States, sell bananas that are grown in the province of Santa Elena.

The production is part of the first exportable crops that leaveMusatec.This firm has banana plantations of the MP1 variety, which has a larger cluster, with more fingers than the barraganete.

This is a variety that is associated with faster maturation.Angelo Caputi Icaza, manager of Musatec,He maintains that in this aspect they have broken paradigms, since the production they have exported to the United States arrives green at that destination.

The company started its project in the Peninsula in October 2019, where it owns 300 hectares, of which 90 are planted.

“My business was growing and I wanted to scale markets and needed the help of mentors… We wanted to learn how the other markets behaved,” says Zamriver.

Shipments have been made gradually through an exporter they work with. Caputi Icaza states that they have been exporting around 90 pallets and in the coming weeks they aim to increase shipments.

He says they are working to improve production levels. One of the factors they had to fight with last year was the cold that was recorded in the Peninsula and which caused delays in calibrations.

Santa Elena bets on organic bananas

Caputi Icaza points out that a disadvantage of the peninsular land is that it does not have many nutrients like in other areas, but the fact that there is not much rain can be a favorable factor to avoid the presence of fungi.

“So far we have been on the Peninsula for more than a year and we have not made any applications against Sigatoka,” says the agricultural businessman.

The banana varieties grown in Ecuador are the barraganete, hartón, dwarf curare, dominico, maqueño, MP1 and the Hawaiian banana. These differ in size. Barraganete is the most popular variety in the industrial and export market, according to data fromBanana Exporters Association.

The main destinations for Ecuador's banana exports are the United States, the European Union, Chile, Colombia, among other countries.

Banana is a source of potassium, magnesium and phosphate. Potassium is good for the heart, preventing hypertension and heart attacks. In addition, the high content of vitamins A, B6 and C helps maintain vision and contributes to strengthening the immune system, as promoted by the exporting union.

Musatec has plans to venture into organic bananas, which prevail in the Peninsula. In that province, according toDepartment of agriculture, there are more than 1,900 hectares of bananas, the majority destined for organic bananas.

So far, Caputi asserts that they have carried out tests with this crop with a view to starting production.