The end of an era

When Carnival is in the air, as it is now, many important events of national, regional and international significance often have to play second fiddle. With what I would call the “soca-risation” of the Festival, this is even more true, for there is less and less of social commentary on the airwaves and more and more “jump and wine.”{{more}} It means that even processes of such fundamental and historical significance as public discussion on the new Constitution would struggle to hold centre stage.

If that is so for such an important national process, then you can imagine what is like for not-so-high-profile events or processes. One of these, close to my heart and in which I have been involved personally, reached a concluding stage on June 7th, when responsibility for the management of the affairs of the extra-regional export of bananas from St. Vincent and the Grenadines passed from the St. Vincent Banana Growers Association to what is called WINFA/Fairtrade, the Fairtrade movement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, represented locally by the National Fairtrade Organization.

The June 7th changeover was no “hurry-hurry”, one-shot affair. It was the culmination of a long and sometimes frustrating process in which Vincentian farmers sought to have the right to take control over and responsibility for managing their own affairs. The old BGA had become very much an ingrained institution in Vincentian society, especially in the banana community. So familiar had people, even those not directly involved in the industry, become with it, that it was often simply called “The Association.” For a half of a century it had managed, and sometimes mismanaged, the banana industry, with varying degrees of success, but nearly always with very limited participation by farmers themselves.

Battered and bruised by the winds of change while stubbornly refusing to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, the BGA hung on to the ropes like a punch-drunk boxer. In spite of the signing of several restructuring agreements and massive inputs of funds from both the public purse and the European Union, democratic governance did not merge. At the onset of the 21st century, a valiant effort was made to effect the necessary changes in terms of farmer control. A Banana Action Committee (BAC) was formed and came up with substantial recommendations.

However, the ULP government did not go fully with the recommendations, including the scrapping of the BGA and the removal of legislation giving it monopoly right over the export of bananas from these shores. The government took over the massive debts of the Association and assumed control via a strange hybrid of the Board of the BGA and elements of the BAC. But debts, written off or bank rolled, soon re-emerged, and right to the end the BGA remained a drain on the taxpayers of the country, albeit sometimes through no fault of its own.

The estrangement of farmers from real decision-making in the industry continued to fuel agitation among farmers, escalating as the problems in the industry worsened. Then came the emergence of Fairtrade as a major force within the industry even as the BGA struggled to survive. Only co-operation between government, and all the stakeholders could help to resolve the situation and avoid unnecessary conflict. To their credit, Government, the BGA, and WINFA/Fairtrade lived up to their responsibilities and, after an arduous and sometimes circuitous process, arrived at an amicable settlement which led to Act No.3 of 2009, the dissolution of the BGA and the new governance arrangements for the industry.

The passage of the BGA will stir some emotions. In spite of its many lapses, often suicidal, the BGA has made its own contribution to national development, overseeing an industry which itself has made perhaps the biggest economic contribution to rural development and has played a major role in the social transformation of rural communities and the development of an independent farming sector. Unlike the old plantation economy with its seasonality, banana, with weekly sales, provided a basis for stability and a more ordered approach to planning. The challenges before it have demanded new approaches, innovative solutions. The June 7th move is but a step in that direction.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.