Factores críticos que inciden en la rentabilidad económica del banano (Musa acuminata) para exportación en la etapa de poscosecha.

Abstract

The banana industry represents a great impact on Ecuador's economy since it annually generates millions of dollars in export earnings, which causes a high demand at international level. The banana goes through thorough selection processes to determine if its quality is exportable. During the selection process there are significant quantities of bananas with non-exportable quality that present physical imperfections, diseases or pests that prevent their commercialization, this research was carried out to determine the main causes for the rejection of fresh banana fruit, to inquire more about the critical factors that affect the economic profitability of bananas (Musa acuminata) for export at the post-harvest stage at Finca 6 Hermanas located in the Barraganete sector of the San Juan de Puebloviejo parish of the Province of Los Ríos, in which various materials and methods were used to obtain and process the data on which the results were based. Finally, it was determined that the main causes for which banana rejection is generated are due to abiotic factors (damage, dry latex, scar, insect damage, broken neck, overgrowth) by 79.55% and biotic factors (twins, diseases, short finger) by 20.45%. That on average 6,361 fingers were rejected in the 6 weeks in which the post-harvest process was studied, that is 1,269 kg of rejection; obviously it represents a high percentage economically to the producer, these figures lead to elaborate strategies that mitigate the damages in a systemic way.