September the 25th, 2026 – Exotic Indian bananas are successfully being grown in Međimurje, seeing seeds turn into three thousand seedlings.
In the municipality of Štrigova, an area in the north of Međimurje known primarily for its vineyards, one of the largest plantations of Indian bananas in this part of Europe was planted a few years ago. Index reports that behind the project is the family of Ivan Žižek, who decided to grow this unusual fruit after learning that it tolerates low temperatures well and is not attacked by diseases, HRT reports.
3,000 seedlings
The Žižek family planted a plantation of Indian banana, also known as pawpaw (asimina), in the village of Banfi three years ago. Since the seedlings are expensive and they needed more than three thousand of them, they opted for a cheaper but slower route. “We obtained a larger quantity of fruit from Italy, manually extracted the seeds, processed them and put them to germinate. Luckily, everything germinated excellently so we grew the first rootstocks of asimina that way. After that I personally started grafting them,” Ivan explains.
The trees are not yet in full yield so for now the family is selling only fresh fruit. In a year or two they plan to start production of food and cosmetic products from that fruit. “A tree in full yield can give around 20 kilograms. We plan to place 20 to 30 percent on the market through retail chains, and the rest would go into the food industry – for craft breweries, jams, liqueurs and aromatic wines,” says Roman Mraz.
hail reduced the yield
This year’s plantation was also quite damaged by strong hail that hit the area in June. “Still, with some earlier varieties we noticed that the first fruit we tasted was of good quality and tasty inside,” Ivan emphasises.
The Indian banana plantation is not the only example of growing exotic crops in that area. Namely, next to the edge of the plantation of fruit that originates from North America, the Žižek family is also growing 16 pistachio trees, whose original homeland is the Middle East, and 65 feijoa bushes, a fruit species from South America.
