Why isn’t more being done for banana industry, asks Opposition Leader

The Ministry of Agriculture has been accused of not taking action to try to revive this country’s banana industry.

This is the claim of Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace, who, last Wednesday, asked why has the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has not implemented measures to assist this once important economic sector, as is being done in St Lucia.{{more}}

“I am tired of the lack of any action of any significance by the Ministry of Agriculture,” Eustace declared last Wednesday on Nice Radio.

He said in 2015, SVG exported zero bananas to the United Kingdom (UK). According to Eustace, while both SVG and St Lucia had battled the black sigatoka disease, St Lucia has made strides in eradicating the disease and has resumed exporting bananas to the UK.

“I can’t understand why we can’t make progress. We were the second largest banana exporter after St Lucia,” Eustace said.

“There’s no focus, it’s just as if we are leaving the industry to die!” he said.

Reading from an article published in ‘The Voice’ newspaper of St Lucia on June 18, the Opposition Leader said the administration in St Lucia, which has been in government for less than one month, has already taken steps to create new markets and revitalize the banana industry.

According to the newspaper, representatives of BananaMart in Martinique visited St Lucia to carry out an “economical survey that involves looking at all banana farms on the island.” That visit is to be followed up by a return visit by St Lucian officials to Martinique, “to obtain a full glance of the major banana cultivations there so that St Lucia’s farmers can replicate the high quality of fruit being achieved by the French farmers.”

The article said that with the joint technical assistance of Taiwan and the French team, St Lucia is well poised to meet the standard of the European Union, once the formula for addressing the way forward had been completed.

Describing the St Lucia banana initiative as three-fold, Eustace, quoting from the newspaper, said that firstly, the French need 150,000 tonnes of St Lucian bananas urgently. Secondly, according to the newspaper, St Lucia needs the foreign exchange and jobs for 12,000 banana farmers who are presently unemployed and thirdly, “the farmers will be represented by BananaMart and payment for their fruit will be made directly by the French supermarkets, with no middleman other than a standard commission for the representative – BananaMart.

“Within two weeks the [St Lucian] Government is on the move to deal with the banana industry; we skylarking now for years,” Eustace commented.

“Why can’t we produce and sell good quality bananas? We did it for donkey years; if we can arrange our business…we can have both the French and the British market,” Eustace added.

He noted that exporting the bananas internationally will bring much needed foreign revenue into the country.

“I mean everybody is making a move to improve their situation. What is happening to us?” he asked.

“What are we waiting on, what are we waiting on?”

The Opposition Leader said had the NDP been elected in the December 2015 general elections, they would have already been taking advantage of this new market in Europe.

He noted that not only is St Lucia taking advantage of new international markets and regional markets, they are also improving the quality of their exports. This, he says, will only make things worse for St Vincent and the Grenadines. He stated that St Lucia is soon to begin exporting bananas in refrigerated containers to Trinidad and Tobago, so that the bananas arrive in good condition.

Trinidad and Tobago is a major market for traffickers from SVG, who send their produce to Trinidad by boats which generally do not have facilities to keep the produce cool.

“What is it that the Ministry of Agriculture is doing? What are they waiting on?” Eustace asked.

He pointed out that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is also going to have major consequences on the banana industry in SVG, especially with the value of the pound dropping. (CM)