agriculture

Banana exports slide substantially

Cooperatives on both coasts reported a dropoff in exports and significant losses this year.

LA PRENSA

crisis: High input costs, market speculation and unfavorable contracts have driven the country’s banana industry into a funk.1094888

As perhaps the most marked symbol of the agro-export sector’s deepening economic slump, banana exports fell 9.1 percent over the last eight months, according to data from the Dirección Nacional del Banano.

The crisis in the industry seems to have hit the country’s two principal banana cultivation regions with equal force. On the Atlantic side, which until last year had showed signs of growth, exports dropped of 9.4 percent this year, while on the Pacific coast, the Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples de Puerto Armuelles (Coosemupar), in Chiriquí, reported an 8.6 percent decline.

Demetrio Jiménez, a representative of Coobana in the province of Bocas del Toro, said the cooperative is facing losses upward of $130,000 this year, due in part to high input costs, market speculation and unfavorable contracts, especially with the European Union.

“All input prices have skyrocketed and we weren’t able to comply with the fertilization program,” he added.

The lack of fertilizer was reflected in the weak harvests seen on Coobana plantations, which are some of the largest in the Atlantic region. Last year, the cooperative produced 1.4 million crates of bananas; this year, it struggled to fill 780,000.

“We’ve talked with the government to intervene and allow a renegotiation of the contract between the cooperative and Chiquita Brands, but everything has just been promises,” said Jiménez.

Abdiel of Lastra, representative of Agrícola del Atlántico, explained that remedies do exist to save the industry, particularly since Chiquita has expressed interest in collaborating with growers. However, he warned that if nothing comes of those talks, “the future of the banana sector is not very encouraging.”

Lastra recommended that the government introduce direct aid programs to bolster the cooperatives most strained by the economic situation.