The sector assures that its delegates never signed an agreement to set the price at $ 6.25, but rather a certificate of attendance
The banana producing sector once again insisted this Wednesday that there was no agreement to set the minimum support price of the banana box for 2022, which, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), would have been given after the table of negotiations of the Banana Advisory Council the previous Friday.
This agreement, according to MAG, between producers and exporters, would have left the price of the fruit at $ 6.25, a value that does not differ from the current one for 2021; and that even the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Pedro Ávila, celebrated for the sake of maintaining the competitiveness of Ecuadorian fruit in international markets.
The producers’ delegates came to the meeting with the proposal that the price of the fruit be set at $ 7.50 and once the meeting started they dropped to $ 7.19; while exporters suggested that the price remain at $ 6.25.
Exporters do not want to argue with producers and hope that the price of $ 6.25 for bananas will be formalized to start with the signing of contracts
Franklin Torres, president of the National Federation of Banana Producers of Ecuador (Fenabe), yesterday reiterated the disagreement of the producing sector and demanded transparency in the banana business in the country.
“Compliance with the laws should not be an option but an obligation,” said Torres, who pointed out that 300,000 families depend on the banana business and want the “win win” to be for everyone, as he pointed out that in 2015, the price of the fruit box was $ 6.55 and today it is $ 6.25, which he considered an “infamous lowering of the price for the small and medium producer”, apart from the breaches of the minimum support price, by ensuring that In the last 18 months, the average price has been $ 4.25, either by spot sale or by contract.
On the alleged irregularities at the negotiating table last Friday, Segundo Serrano, producer and former banana leader of Los Ríos, expressed his concern and that of the sector about the complaint by the delegates about an alleged alteration of the documents of the minutes of the working session, by ensuring that the delegates of their sector signed an attendance document, but not a record of agreement, for which he asked the State Attorney General’s Office to initiate a preliminary investigation ex officio to determine responsibility for this fact.
“We have to be transparent, we cannot allow acts of corruption to continue in our country, if this is the case,” said the former leader, who also pointed out that this Wednesday morning they asked the MAG for audios and recordings of the session to determine if the “aforementioned agreement” existed.
He indicated that if the agreement does not exist, the one who has to settle the new minimum price is the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, but, nevertheless, if irregularities are confirmed in the meeting, he demanded that a new appointment of the Consultative Council be convened. of the Banana.
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
Meanwhile, Torres assured that there is no document or agreement in force that has been generated at last Friday’s meeting and defended the producers’ proposal, of $ 7.50.
“We have asked that price not because it occurred to us, not because that seems nice to us, it seems to us the appropriate figure, if I put an average of how the box of bananas is sold abroad, we are talking above $ 20 and the effect that we are seeing for the final consumer is less than 3 cents per pound of bananas, which is practically insignificant, “said Torres, who asked Minister Álava; and to the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, who consider his requests.
He added that if the price is set at $ 6.25, as the exporters suggest, it will be less boxes and less foreign currency for the country. fewer jobs and more poverty in the rural sector. He also assured that many banana farms would close.
“There will be no army capable of controlling the social explosion that could occur if fair prices are not set for agriculture, the way to support agriculture is to pay fair prices to small and medium producers,” warned the leader, who, however, He clarified that they are not conspiring against the president or the minister.
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