Utilize the breathing space

The banana industry in the Windward Islands and, by extension, the economy of these small-island states, have been given a brief respite from the most destructive winds of the international trade storm. Ironically, this was caused by the breakdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in Geneva last month. The failure on the part of the major trading nations in the world to reach consensus to conclude the seven-year old Doha Development Agreement, is seen internationally as a major disappointment, with predictions of dire consequences for world trade.{{more}}

If anything stands out for the people of small countries like ours it is the reinforcement of the sad reality that the world’s powerful are not about to concede their practice of dictating to the powerless or to give up their privileges. Not surprisingly, agriculture became the centre of attention with major struggles around subsidies by big countries to this sector at the expense of the export potential of farmers in developing nations, as well as levels of tariffs employed. In the end, it was self-interest which won.

The Geneva talks themselves exposed another reality of this rapidly unfolding world. That is, that a new bloc of countries has emerged from among these “developing nations”, capable of challenging the hitherto all-powerful countries of Europe and North America. Thus it was that the likes of China, India, Brazil and Mexico have enough clout in world trade to prevent a monopoly by the old superpowers. Not that the positions espoused by those countries were necessarily always in our own interest. But they are a force to reckon with in all such negotiations.

By contrast, small countries such as those in the Caribbean continued to be marginalized. To our credit, and despite our many weaknesses, the Caribbean was still able to make its voice heard, and in alliance with other ACP states, at least to stave off the complete trampling on the interests of our people. Yet, it must not escape us that when the major powers want to preserve their greater interests we (and our bananas), become the sacrificial lambs. For the European Union, Caribbean trade is a drop in a bucket compared with the rich pickings in Latin America. Hence the EU’s willingness to further jeopardize our banana industry by agreeing to radical further cuts in tariffs which will make it difficult for us to sell our bananas in the face of vastly cheaper Latin American bananas.

The breakdown in talks means but a brief delay in this expected action. The tariff cuts will come. It means that we cannot celebrate the Geneva failure as a victory but must use every moment to prepare ourselves for the future. This means not a retreat from bananas as the brilliant blind among us advocate but a multi-pronged approach. Speeding up the reconstruction and consolidation of the banana industry is one such approach. And not just banana, our approach to our entire agricultural sector needs addressing. Competitiveness can only be achieved in the face of rising input costs, by radical measures to eradicate bureaucratic approaches, to minimize parasitical elements, to expose our farmers to the truth of the international economy and to truly address our basic food needs.

At the same time, the efforts at economic diversification in other areas of the economy must be intensified. At the root of this is the preparation of the human resource base. We cannot be successful service providers until we can make the distinction between being able to deliver services to meet the needs of customers and what some consider being servitude. Essential to our Education Revolution is not just academic or technical opportunities, but re-educating the population as a whole in relation to attitudes to work, production and productivity.

It is true things are hard. Equally true is that things are going to get harder. We are not going to advance by hoping that someone else will solve our problems for us. The problems in the world economy are not going to vanish overnight. We have little room for manoeuvre and no time for procrastination.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.