Simeon Greene – bananas are his life

He considers himself a private person who leads a quiet life, but this week the spotlight falls on Simeon Greene.

Some Vincentians may remember him as a teacher, Manager of the Banana Growers Association or as an Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, but most of us may conclude that this Diamond resident has left a greater impression on our minds as a representative of WIBDECO, doing advocacy work on behalf of farmers of the Windward Islands, and now Fair Trade.{{more}}

It’s almost one year since Greene returned to St.Vincent and the Grenadines, after spending four and a half years in the United Kingdom working for WIBDECO.

A farmer for most of his life, Greene wasted no time in getting back to the land upon his return. SEARCHLIGHT caught up with him at his farm in the Morne Garu Mountains.

He told us that these days, he juggles his time between farming and consultancy work.

At first glance, one may think that Greene, the father of nine, is much older than he is, just by looking at the milk white hair on his head. On this notion Greene joked: “People have always thought I am older than my years. As a matter of fact I’ve been grey since I was young.”

The robustly built man is only 57 years old and is happily married to Carmen Greene.

Over the years, Greene has earned the reputation as being one of the better banana executives in the region. In his own words, he acknowledged: “I know banana more than most.”

Reflecting on the era when banana was ‘Green Gold’, Greene noted: “During the five glorious years of 1988 to 1992, we used to sell nearly 70,000 tonnes of bananas per annum and used to earn over EC$1 million on an average. That’s a lot of money. Just consider the impact of EC$1 million in a population of just over 100,000. Banana was it!”



Greene explained that our problems with bananas began when our trade preferences started to be chiselled away by organizations such as the World Trade Organization.

He is of the view that were it not for Fair Trade, we probably would have been out of the market by now. He, however, thinks that Fair Trade by itself cannot solve all of our problems. It only gives us a foothold to remain in the market.

“Fair Trade has not brought us glory, but what it has done, is to keep us in the market, said Greene.

“The core of our problem in banana is that we produce a crop at just US$9 per forty pound box and competitors can do it at US$3.50 and US$4.00. Apart from Fair Trade, we have to try and improve our productivity,” said Greene.

Greene said bananas no longer make $100 million but it still generates $23 million. “Unless somebody tells me what else to do, I say let’s keep on making the $23 million.”

You may be wondering what makes Greene an authority on bananas.

In 1974, just before his 23rd birthday, he went off to Trinidad to the St.Augustine Campus, University of the West Indies, to pursue his undergraduate degree. However, whatever dreams he had were short lived, as he was forced to leave the University for reasons that had nothing to do with him.

“The OECS people owed the university a lot of money, so we were no longer treated as students from contributing territories. All of us had to pay Economic Cost. If you didn’t have the Economic Cost you had to come back home,” said Greene.

His initial ambition was to pursue a degree in Agriculture, but when he walked through the doors of the University of the West Indies for a second time, 16 years later, Greene opted to do a Management Degree. This was followed by a Master’s Degree in Agriculture and Rural Development.

Greene is adamant he has no regrets: “I don’t regret life. I just take life as it comes and thank God. Things could have been worse. Things are so bad with so many people, but I just have to thank God.”

Upon completing his first degree, Greene, received a job from the Banana Growers Association as Purchasing Manager, but within three months he was offered the post of Acting Manager of the BGA, and confirmed thereafter, remaining at the organization for a period spanning six years.

“At the BGA, I actually was fired. I am not afraid to say that and this was as a result of the conflicts between me and the then board over the way things had to be run. (Within) one day (of being fired), I was offered another job in St. Lucia,” said Greene.



Simeon Greene during his stint as Acting Permanent Secretary.

In November 1999, when his four month contract ended in St.Lucia, Greene returned to St.Vincent and the Grenadines, but bigger things were in store for him, as he was returning to take up the post of Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

“I spent three years there as Permanent Secretary on contract,” said Greene. This was followed by a job at WIBDECO as Relationship Manager speaking about Bananas and promoting Fair Trade.

Greene said he supports the Government’s policy on bananas, where they are trying to turn it over to the Fair Trade Movement. However, he believes things are moving too slowly.

“We need to move it a bit faster,” said Greene.

His advice to Vincentians is that “we need to respond together as a people”.

“We need to realise and stop the foolishness about which shirt you wear and respond as a people. We need to deal with the issue of education in our schools and the issue of crime in our streets, and we need to deal with the issue of laziness of some of our people,” said Greene.

Outside of his work, Greene finds time to escape with his friends to have a river or sea cook. He mused that when he is not engaged in sports, he enjoys the arts: Music and Carnival.