The Banana Productivity Improvement Project (BPIP) in St. Lucia exists to assist banana farmers with increasing their productivity, output and overall efficiency as it pertains to production. Typically, the farmers use tools that must be imported in order to ensure crop uniformity.
Thanks to the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) in St. Lucia, St. Lucian banana farmers no longer must import this vital tool used in the banana industry. The banana caliper is an instrument used to measure the size of the banana fingers to ensure that the island meets the required international quality, grade and standards. Farmers in the past have had difficulty in sourcing this instrument, resulting in sometimes harvesting and shipping bananas that were above or under the required specification.
Using 3D printing technology, the TTM has designed and reproduced a caliper which can now be made in Saint Lucia. To date, a total of 200 of the instruments has been produced and distributed to farmers across the island.
Apart from saving the island much needed foreign exchange, this new technology will help generate new business opportunities and ensure that farmers deliver uniformity across the board.
The Banana Productivity Improvement Project (BPIP) banana farmers have welcomed this new development and are grateful for this item that now increases productivity and reduces wastage at harvest.