An innovative plastic product is being rapidly taken-up by banana growers in Australia and overseas as they see its ability to cut fruit wastage from 44 percent up to a staggering 80 percent when compared with traditionally grown bananas.
Global banana consultant Marc Jackson said the major supermarket chains want to buy a perfect-looking banana and the ClipSlip dramatically reduces blemished fruit which therefore increases yield and profit.
Mr Jackson said independent field trials found bananas grown with ClipSlips had 25 times less tip scarring, 34 percent less bag rub, and 30 percent less fresh harvesting and handling damage.
“During some parts of the year, discarded banana waste can amount to 30 percent of the week’s harvest so these reductions in waste will more than pay for any investment,” he said.
“These factors combined mean that the fruit grown with ClipSlips had a minimum of 44 percent less wastage than bananas grown without them in place.”
The slips are fitted to growing fruit at the bagging stage and have been specially designed to separate and protect growing fruit from damage.
“ClipSlips are a quality improvement tool that have been proven to return significant commercial benefits which will change the way most professional banana farms manage the bagging of bunches,” he said.
During the past four months, two million of the recyclable ClipSlips have been put into circulation in Tully and Mareeba plantations and because they are reused up to 10 times, they provide an excellent return on investment.
“I designed this ClipSlip when I was growing bananas and thanks to a Queensland Government Innovation Start-Up Scheme grant, it is now an Australian registered design for which I have a worldwide registered patent.”
Mr Jackson said the ClipSlip had huge potential to increase banana profitability, not just in Australian plantations but internationally as well.
“I am travelling to Central America soon to promote the product with the intention of opening a distribution division to supply the world’s major banana growing companies.”
In addition to increasing yield and profit through less wastage, the ClipSlips also enable faster plantation turnover, less land and water needed to grow crops, and using fewer pesticides and chemicals – meaning growers can produce the same amount of fruit using less area.
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