Doing what’s kneadful to save bananas

We drove 42 km from Jalgaon city into the innards of Yawal tehsil guided by just a phone number and a name 7 Madhav Nagar By the time we reached it was almost noon and streets seared by 42 degrees plus centigrade were empty We held on to a vision of a small factory unit that baked biscuitsAt the only shop on the street we ask for Ashok Gade and the man inside points to the main road that leads to Burhanpur in Madhya PradeshWersquore in luck The shop belongs to Gade and wersquove just been told where the factory isGadersquos daughter with his granddaughter Ambika right Gade checks freshlybaked biscuits at his unit at Madhav Nagar Yawal PicsAshish RajeInside a small galla a man with his head and face covered wth a big gamcha is watering the plants We ask for Ashok Gade again ldquoI am himrdquo says the man and opens the gateSeventyoneyearold Ashok Prabhakar Gade has managed a blueprint for success for any farmer While all the banana farmers in the district bemoan bad crop noncooperation from the government and neglect by elected representatives Gade has been focusing on solutionsMindful of the fruitrsquos short shelf life that restricts transport and storage he opted out of going bananas Instead of growing them he turns them into chips Chavda laddoos and biscuits sacks of which line the 1000 sqft unit awaiting export to many statesBanana PapadldquoMy home is just behind thisrdquo he tells us ldquoand itrsquos all hands on board when we get ordersrdquo The Gade family developed several banana byproducts and their hero banana biscuit and received the patent in April of last year Identified with its own GI tag from 2016 Jalgaon district produces 70 per cent of the statersquos banana production Which in turn is 11 per cent of the national produceldquoAll our life wersquove struggled with the banana yieldrdquo Gade tell us covered head to toe now as he opens the large ovens where the biscuits are being baked ldquoWe realise that every part of the banana tree is of immense use but bananas have no shelf life They need a certain temperature and support to sustain Also it is a very codependent business Once the yield is ready I have to depend on the trader then transport and logistics for the fruit to reach the market Even a single delay at any step damages the yieldrdquoBanana ChivdaBanana plants reach maturity after one year and the cost of rearing one fruityielding plant is Rs 150 to Rs 200 ldquoOur earning from one tree is nearly the same as the cost of cultivationrdquo Gade tells us ldquoWe could not survive there had to be a way out I discussed this with my wife Kusum and we came up with the idea of making unique byproductsrdquoThe banana biscuit is devoid of maida or any artificial ingredients that are the hallmark of commercial biscuits ldquoCopying others is a natural human instinct so protecting our recipe was importantrdquo he says we made a presentation to the patent office in Mumbai and applied for a patent from the central government in 2022 We were granted one in April 2023 We broke the death cyclerdquoSales shot up with the acquisition of the patent which gave a boost to the product under the brand name Sankalp Enterprises Sales shot up by 30 per cent Gade saidldquoWersquove stopped selling raw bananas completelyrdquo he boasts ldquoand completely switched over to banana processingrdquo Banana biscuits the family feels are a good way to connect with the urban clusters and are loved by children ldquoThey are rich in calcium unlike the others in the marketrdquo says his grandson SrujanldquoBesides biscuitsrdquo pipes up his daughter Leena who is based in Pune ldquochips and laddu do well too The products have slowly started doing well in urban clusters like Nashik Pune Indore Bangalore even Mumbai and also far off states like West Bengal and OrissaSachin his son adds ldquoNot just children but also grownups Banana products are also consumed by those who fast and there is more demand on such daysrdquoDaughterinlaw Sneha is as much a part of the business as everyone else ldquoWe have created quite a few unusual products such as papad chivda laddu and even jam Being a family venture we market it on social media and at local food fairs and cultural eventsrdquoGade senior is Sankalprsquos disciplinarian and the moment of pride for the family was when he was felicitated by Maharashtra Governor in August 2023 with The Gramudyog Bharari award 2023 which is felicitated by the Maharashtra Government Khadi and Gramudyog Mandal and Meghashray FoundationThe family uses fruit from their own farm ldquoWe started organic farming in 2008 and there has been no looking backrdquo Ashok says ldquoWe applied for loans under various government schemes to set up the unit in 2010 The first amount was meagre Rs 15 lakh despite having approvals for a higher amount of Rs 10 lakh but the second time it worked well We purchased machinery from Indore and Kolhapur and invested about Rs 30 to 40 lakhs in setting up the unit We have now been able to clear all the loans toordquoThey now collaborate with the youth and farmers to help them set up their own processing units and to think beyond farming to include what to do with their produce ldquoWe train them and prepare them with preliminary informationrdquo he says