Taiwan Technical Mission develops new tool for banana industry Share this post: 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.