Producers and exporters from Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Peru, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana issued complaints in order to be heard at the FAO World Banana Forum.
The unions of banana producers and exporters to the European market, representing Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Peru, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana, published this Thursday, March 7, a joint statement addressed to European retail clients with the requests that will lead to the Fourth Global Conference of the World Banana Forum that will be held from March 11 to 14 in Rome, Italy.
In this statement, the producers and exporters presented the three requests that they will present to retailers and recalled that since 2020, banana producers and exporters have experienced significant problems such as the dramatic increase in input costs: cardboard, freight, fertilizers and potential related risks. with the FOC R4T; increase in insecurity, adaptation of production practices to the multiple certification schemes required by supermarkets, as well as to the policies of the European Union, according to banana producers and exporters, based on a limited knowledge of non-European realities; that have not been recognized by retailers.
“Rather, they have opted for purchasing policies that are inconsistent with sustainability, and inadequate in the face of the increase in banana production costs,” the banana growers noted in the document.
For this reason, the first request is that in accordance with shared responsibility, adopt the FairTrade methodology to calculate the fair price that considers environmental sustainability efforts and fair wages, observing that the burdens and costs of the different sustainability requirements should not fall on only on the producers.
In this regard, the region's banana sector regretted that even though the proposals to adopt the price methodology established by FairTrade have presented multiple opportunities to retailers and other organizations, the majority of retailers remain passive and reluctant in adopting said sustainable purchasing practices.
They also request that retailers and certifiers respect the rules and regulations of banana-producing countries, recognizing that the mechanisms to achieve the living wage in each country may vary and that objective can be achieved through public policies, collective negotiations or other valid established mechanisms. in the Constitution and the law of the countries where bananas are produced.
Finally, the producers and exporters ask that a permanent commission be formed, in which the retailers and the producers and exporters of the region participate committedly with the purpose of achieving the rationalization and unification of methodologies and certifications, which is one of the greatest problems for the production of bananas for export generated from the overlapping of certification standards that generate more unsustainable administrative and economic burdens for banana producers.
Banana growers in the region assure that these certifications represent a 60% overlap of the requirements imposed by the different standards.
