‘Preliminary agreements’ would have been reached in the third appointment with the Government, say banana producers

Two days after the last meeting, held last Friday, between the banana producing sector and government authorities, this Monday, April 25, they sat down again at the negotiating table to discuss immediate compensation measures for the sector, which ensures that there were advances and preliminary agreements.

The producers assure that they are impacted by the Russian-Ukrainian conflictwhich does not allow them to harvest fruit for those countries, which represent the 25% of Ecuador’s total banana exports; In addition to the irregularities in the price they receive for the box of fruit for export, whose minimum support price is $6.25, which represents, according to the union, weekly losses due to $20 million.

Without ‘white smoke’ second meeting between banana growers and the Government, but with new commitments and deadline

Regarding the agreements, from the National Federation of Banana Producers of Ecuador (Fenabe)it was reported that in the meeting held with the Vice Minister of Government, Homero Castanier, and various officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) It was decided to formalize and implement the purchase of bunches from next week at $3 to producers who have between 1 and 20 hectares.

On this point, the producers hope that this Tuesday the MAG will deliver the documents that enable the creation of a trust to manage the resources, which according to what the Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez, indicated last Friday, would be around $3, 5 million.

In addition, there was talk of the immediate suspension of exporters and brands without a contract, the immediate rectification of the reduction in productivity to 40 boxes per hectare, that inspections be carried out and fines be applied to illegal crops, the immediate authorization of a single window, which prohibit organic bananas from being sold as conventional and control those crops and finally link the RUC to the producer’s code.

Meanwhile, with the Ministry of Government, the declaration of an emergency in the banana sector was discussed, that the Ministry of Finance manage the return of amounts collected by fines for illegal planting to the MAG, the repeal of decrees 1127 and 183 and the rectification of the Article 3 of Ministerial Agreement 57, establishing the FOB cost at $3.3 per box of 22 units and its equivalent to other types of box.

Government and banana producers return to the dialogue table, while the Ministry of Agriculture announces actions for the sector

Franklin Torres, president (e) of Fenabe, He assured that these points were agreed with the authorities and they hope that they will be implemented as soon as possible.

“Within what was preliminarily agreed, we only await confirmation from the Government, especially on two main points: the purchase of bunches and the declaration of emergency,” said the leader, who, however, declared: “As long as they have not materialized everything requested we cannot sing victory”.

While from the MAG and the Ministry of Government no official pronouncements have been issued about this last meeting and whether or not there were agreements with the producers. (I)