Both housewives and market sellers report an increase in the price of plantains, which are currently sold at three for a dollar, and bunches go from $6 to $10, while they were previously sold for $4.

In the market in the center of Guayaquil, Johanna complained this Friday, June 30, because when she bought this product for one dollar, she was given only three bananas, while before she got six. While Blanca Caluña, the owner of the stand in that supply center, explained that before the tetrapacks of bananas that bring 80 or 70 pieces, depending on the size, she bought up to 13 or 14 dollars at the Montebello wholesale market, and now they charge him 19 dollars. “We have to sell $20 a box and three bananas for $1 so we can save money, otherwise it won’t come out.”

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The only thing they are commenting on in Montebello is that all the crops disappeared with the rains that happened and there is no production, he added.

At the Caraguay market, in the southern part of the city, a bunch is sold for between 10 and 12 dollars. While in stores in the north, each plantain is sold for 0.35 dollars, while previously they sold up to five for a dollar ($0.20 each), depending on the size.

Traders from different markets in Guayaquil assure that there is no production.

Eduardo Manrique, president of the Association of Banana Exporters (Asoexpla), assures that in the last three or four months the productivity of bananas has been terrible and that it is in decline, and to this is added the existing internal and external demand: “Ecuadorians We started from consuming 20 kilograms per inhabitant per year, in 2022 to 40 kilograms per inhabitant per year.”

In the last three years, until 2022, the industry had an export growth of approximately 15% to 20%. Which did not happen this year in 2023 due to the drop in production.

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80% of producers across the country are small. “When we talk about small plantain producers, even smaller than one hectare, often multi-cultural, family and generational crops”, it means that they do not have good agricultural practices. Due to the increase in the price of fertilizers, they do not carry out appropriate fertilization cycles and do not cover them, emphasized the president of Asoexpla.

At the moment, the sector of El Carmen -Manabí-, which is the main producer of bananas for export, is very affected by a disease known as banana slime, which is added in winter since they do not have fumigation cycles leading to very low productivity, then the internal market will be affected, explains Manrique.

On the other hand, this indicates that unlike banana producers who have a lot of help from the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), with sets for fumigation and incentives, the banana tree is not supported and has been affected, reducing exports to 30% so far this year.