A new facility to ripen, market and export banana would soon come up at Chinnamannur in the district, Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugham said on Monday. The new facility would be beneficial to the banana growers in the district, who had been sending their produce to Bangalore till now, he said while attending a function here on Sunday. The facility was being set up at a cost of Rs six to seven crore and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Marketing Board would bear 74 per cent of the cost and 26 per cent would be borne by Banana growers' Association.

The Minister said the farmers in the district had to spend Rs 1.10 per kg to transport the produce to Bangalore. The new ripening and packaging facility would also provide better price for the produce. Theni banana growers in the district produce an average of 42 metric tonnes of the fruit per hectare. The facility would also help them market their produce directly to big buyers. The storage facility could be used for stocking other fruits also, he said.