The producer sector insists that there was no agreement with exporters last October 22 and that production will drop 30% in 2022
More than ten days after the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) officially set the price of a box of bananas for 2022 at $ 6,25, the banana producers insist that there was no agreement between the exporters and their sector; and they assure that if the price is maintained, which is the same that is in force in 2021, Ecuador will go through a decrease in banana production next year.
Franklin Torres, president of the National Federation of Banana Producers of Ecuador (Fenabe), He assured that the consequences of maintaining the same price this year will generate 30% less banana production in the next year compared to that of 2020, which was a record year with 380 million boxes. This would be around 114 million boxes less by 2022.
“Less production, with a lower price (at the) cost of production, what is coming is a strong divestment of agriculture in general, a crisis in the peasant sector, less foreign exchange for the country, less boxes for next year,” he said. the leader, who assured that this year it will close with 10% less production in relation to 2020, that is, between 340 million and 350 million boxes.
The MAG set the price on October 29, based on an agreement between producers and exporters during the Banana Advisory Council, developed last October 22 in Guayaquil, to which the producers arrived with a proposal to increase the price of the fruit box from $ 6.25 (current price in 2021) to $ 7.50; although during the meeting his suggestion was restated at $ 7.19.
Ministry of Agriculture sets price of banana box at $ 6.25
Meanwhile, the exporters proposed, for competitiveness, to keep the price at $ 6.25.
The meeting culminated with different pronouncements from both sectors. While the exporter announced an agreement to leave the price of the fruit at $ 6.25, the producers denied it, stating that they were even deceived and that they signed a certificate of assistance and not a price agreement.
“This way in which the 2022 PMS (minimum support price) has been set was arbitrary, illegal and immoral, it is not possible that precisely at such a difficult time that we are going through they continue to ‘assault’ the small and medium producer of bananas, ”Torres lamented.
Banana producers say they were tricked into signing an agreement and ask to meet with Guillermo Lasso to define the price of a box of bananas for 2022
For its part, Carmen Peláez, banana leader of Los Ríos, He indicated that the price of the box of bananas has not moved for ten years, which makes the work of the producers impossible and asks the export sector to be sensitized.
“Already the markets abroad comment that they must improve prices so that a better incentive arrives for those of us who work the land,” said Peláez, who assured that if the situation continues there will be a strong shortage not only of bananas, but of food in general.
The leader believes that it is necessary for the MAG to convene a new Banana Advisory Council, since the one that took place on October 22, according to her, “was highly contested due to many flaws and contradictions in its development.”
Meanwhile, other producers, who preferred the reservation, asked that the videos and audios of that meeting be made public to establish whether there was an agreement or not.
Meanwhile, in addition to requesting a new Advisory Council and presenting a “diligence” in the Guayas Prosecutor’s Office, according to Peláez, the producer sector has not commented on new actions for a review of the fixed price. (I)
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