Compensation measures analyzed by the Government do not convince banana producers and exporters who seek direct dialogue with the President of the Republic
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Loading... - Adonis Vera
- 16 Mar 2022
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The latest announcements by the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, on the analysis of compensation measures for the banana sector due to the impact they suffer due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, do not fully convince the export sector and not at all the producer, who They urgently seek a meeting with the president to present their points of view and suggestions.
This in a context in which the banana sector stopped exporting, just last week, 750,000 boxes of bananas to Russia and Ukraine.
Lasso revealed this Tuesday: “We are going to work with our government team. Precisely this week we will have meetings with our Minister of Production (Julio José Prado), with the Minister of Economy (Simón Cueva), to see, as far as possible, compensation measures that allow us to sustain production, sustain employment and generate hope, because this will be transitory”.
Government analyzes lines of credit and negotiates with China and South Korea to place bananas affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
When consulted by this newspaper, Franklin Torres, president of the Federation of Banana Producers of Ecuador (Fenabe) , regretted that the union had not been invited to any meeting to discuss the problem, thus referring to the appointment that authorities held on Monday of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), with the coordinator of the country's banana and plantain cluster, Juan José Pons, who is also an ad honorem adviser on agricultural issues to President Lasso.
"We want to explain to the president how we want to buy bunches," said Torres, who last week proposed the creation of a contingency fund with its own financing (from the banana producers themselves), through the retention of $0, 05 per box sold to minimize the losses that the conflict may cause.
Regarding the proposal that the Government buy the production, Torres proposed the direct purchase of bunches from small and medium producers with the aim of avoiding oversupply and speculation on the price of the fruit. This, according to the leader, would benefit producers of less than 50 hectares, up to 35 clusters per hectare would be purchased at a price of $3 each cluster to remove 2 million clusters from the market.
Banana growers propose a contingency fund to minimize losses due to the war between Russia and Ukraine
However, the proposal was discarded by Lasso on Tuesday. “To think that the government has to buy the banana production that is lost by the Russian market, that is not realistic. What we have to do is locate other markets in the world," said the President of the Republic, who commented that there was a meeting with the Chinese ambassador Chen Gouyou on the possibility of compensating for the loss of the Russian banana market.
A line of credit for producers of up to $55,000 through BanEcuador is also being analyzed.
In this regard, Richard Salazar, executive director of the Banana Marketing and Export Association (Acorbanec) , which represents producers and exporters of the fruit, indicated that placing that amount of bananas, which does not go to Russia, in other destinations is Utopian. In January, Ecuador exported 8.1 million boxes of bananas to Russia, 23.99% of all Ecuadorian banana exports to the world. Read More...
