Hugh Martin
THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE and the European Union's Banana Support Programme in Jamaica last week launched what they called "Banana Week" in an effort to promote the increased consumption of bananas locally. Not a bad idea as the banana is indeed a very wholesome fruit. In a full-page advertisement in last Thursday's Gleaner, they claimed a number of health benefits to be derived from the eating of the fruit including the calming of nerves, the reduction of stress, hypertension and strokes, and the curing of ulcers and hangovers. And pregnant ladies will be happy to learn that a banana between meals helps to avoid morning sickness.
If ever there was a miracle fruit this is it, and it was here all along and we didn't know it. Well, I shouldn't put it quite that way. As far back as 1965, I wrote an article for The Gleaner entitled "The Therapeutic Properties of bananas" in which I listed pretty much the same properties and a couple more. Notable among them was the ability of the fruit to help in weight reduction as well as weight gain depending on the method of preparation. The most striking one though, and I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the campaign advertisement, was the ability to increase fertility and presumably, potency.
GREEN GOLD
The question that arises though, is, why is the European Union pushing a campaign for Jamaicans to eat more bananas? The banana industry was developed in Jamaica primarily to supply Europe. So great was their demand for it in the late 19th century and the earlier part of the 20th that banana exports outstripped sugar and the trade was so lucrative that the fruit became known as 'green gold'. In order to secure a steady supply trade agreements were signed and generous prices agreed upon and everything was hunky-dory. Until cheaper fruit from large plantations in Central and South America became available - and looked even better than the Jamaican product. Never mind the inferior taste. They were bigger and they were spotless so our bananas, which sometimes tended to show some speckles, became unacceptable although we know that they were indications of superior taste. Jamaican bananas now had to meet certain quality standards called PUWS or be rejected.
DISCOURAGING TRADE
That was the first step in the move to discourage the trade. The second was the issuing of quotas. But because the quality standards were set so high the small banana growers could not meet them without incurring prohibitive costs, so they dropped out. Only the large producers like Eastern and St. Mary Banana Estates were able to compete, so exports fell from nearly 90,000 tonnes annually to a low of 40,000 tonnes.
And as if to validate the maxim, 'when a man is down kick him' that is when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stepped in and ruled that Europe should stop its preferential treatment and allow the Latin producers free access. To its credit, the EU has put up some semblance of resistance and where it has had to yield, it has provided some compensation and the EU Banana Support Programme has been doing a good job of assisting the growers to improve their husbandry practices.
The latest ruling by the WTO which has forced the EU to reduce the tariff on Latin bananas to well below the ¤230 it felt would keep Jamaica and the other ACP producers viable, is seen as the final nail in the coffin. The "Eat more bananas" campaign is therefore a clear signal by the EU and the Ministry of Agriculture that we must now forget Europe as a market for our bananas and eat them ourselves.
Hugh Martin is a commu-nication consultant and farm broadcaster who may be reached at humar@cwjamaica.com
