Three out of four exporters suffer from warnings about the theft of inputs, bananas and plantains when presenting the campaign

Three out of four exporters were victims of input theft in the last quarter, and in the face of this and other problems of insecurity, Ecuador’s banana and plantain industry together with the national police and the Tax Administration (SRI) presented this Wednesday, November 15, the campaign ‘Lend a hand, buy on the right, the future of bananas is exploited’.

During an exhibition attended by union representatives, the Executive Director of the Association of Ecuadorian Banana Exporters (AEBE), José Antonio Hidalgo, indicated that there are three problems in terms of insecurity: kidnapping and extortion, cargo contamination and stolen supplies (equipment, machinery, agrochemical inputs, cardboard boxes).

The campaign will last until February 2024 and will cover the provinces of Guayas, El Oro and Los Ríos, with the largest number of warnings directed at the latter, according to Hidalgo.

The banana cluster requires security in export and not to damage the image of the industry

According to a collection of figures surrounding the problem, Hidalgo indicated that in the last quarter, three out of four exporters suffered this type of attack involving the theft of inventory and vehicles. About 85% of the stolen items focused on machinery, bombs, spider motorcycles, agrochemical supplies, vehicles, even personal items, so the estimated loss is $280,000 of what was reported, and if the trend continues, it would be close to $1,120,000 dollars per year.

In this context, the businessman points out that the purpose of the campaign around this situation is:

But the issue of insecurity not only focuses on the stolen supplies in the awareness campaign – said Hidalgo – but in the articulated work there is also a serious problem related to extortion and kidnappings in the areas, as well as contamination of the contents.

The President of the Regional Corporation of Banana Growers (Agroban) Leonidas Estrada indicated that they are conducting this campaign because the problem in that sector has been a reality for a long time, but with the current insecurity it has worsened and is not only for the guild to which it belongs, but also for the grower of cocoa, rice, etc.

About the stolen stock, he said: “Through social networks, products are even promoted and sold with incredible impunity, which is why it is important to call on the authorities to help in the locations and hopefully eliminate these small mafias that are in the sector”.

Banana growers expect more action after the export control system is cleared

For his part, the executive director of the Association for Marketing and Export of Bananas (Acorbanec), Richard Salazar, in addition to insecurity, the banana sector also faces problems of cargo contamination. “65% of the port’s exports are generated by the banana sector and that is why the sector is increasingly polluted,” he said.

And in this light, they require the “current authorities and those on the way” to enact a radical policy to fight crime and drug trafficking, as well as to provide the authorities with resources and infrastructure so that they can perform their work more efficiently. and scanners start working in the ports. “This is really a request of the export sector, and especially of the banana sector because it already affects the reputation of Ecuador in the whole world, so we demand and demand the implementation of this equipment in the ports,” said Salazar.

Colonel Marco Narváez, commander of Zone 8, said that the target of the campaign is derived from the crime of receiving, which is typical in article 212, paragraph one, of the Organic Penal Code, whose punishment is prison sentence Freedom is from six months to two years. “Receipt means storage and transport of stolen items, in this case, by stealing items, supplies, tools used to carry out activities in the banana sector and attempting to market them, the crime of receiving is configured,” he explained.

In this regard, he said that at this time it is appropriate to motivate those who are victims to report through various channels, including 1-800 crimes and the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Zonal Head of the SRI, Isis Feraud, indicated that the entity’s actions are directed against tax crime and therefore contribute to controls, as well as verifying that the material carried by people is legally transported and that the only way to do this is through a backup copy of the account .

“We will take steps, if we find inconveniences, we will apply appropriate sanctions in order to reduce the type of criminal acts that are caused to a minimum, this is part of the numerous controls that the Tax Administration carries out,” he said.