John Myers Jr., Agriculture Coordinator

There could be more challenges for the island's banana industry as low-cost Latin American banana producers pressure the European Union (EU) to further reduce the preferential tariff on bananas coming from non-African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Last Thursday, Colombia joined Ecuador, the world's largest exporter of bananas, in complaining to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that the EU's 175-euro tariff was still too high and was unfair to Latin American banana producers.

This latest development has come at a time when the banana sector in Jamaica is still recovering from the ravages of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which plunged production to an all-time low of just over 11,000 tonnes in 2005.

Dr. Marshall Hall, managing director of the Jamaica Producers Group, the largest commercial grower and exporter of bananas in Jamaica, told Farmers Weekly that it would be virtually impossible for the industry to survive if the preferential tariff is reduced below 175 euros. "It would be very hard to survive anything beyond 175 euros," he stressed.

Agriculture and Lands Minister, Roger Clarke, in commenting on the actions of the Latin Americans on Tuesday, said the 18- member ACP cluster would be fighting strenuously to have the tariff remain at 175 euros. "And we have real support out of Spain and France," he added.

Support

According to the minister, Spain and France have come out in support of the tariff remaining at the current 175 euros. "It was really heart-rending to see the level of support that was coming from the French Minister of Agriculture and the Spanish Minister of Agriculture and some others," he said.

Dr. Hall noted that the lobby by the Latin Americans would take at least another year before it is heard by the World Trade Organisation, so the banana industry is safe from any tariff reduction until the 2008 crop if they are successful in having it reduced below 175 euros. In the meantime, while Latin American banana producers seek to gain a greater share of the EU banana export market, exports from the Caribbean region have been declining steadily.

Exports from Jamaica fell dramatically from 43,000 tonnes in 2001 to 11,500 tonnes in 2005 resulting in a major decline in earnings, which decreased from US$18 million to US$4.7 million over the period.

Similarly, exports in the Windward Islands - which includes St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Grenada - fell dramatically from just over 238,000 tonnes 10 years ago to 67,766 tonnes in 2003.

But Dr. Hall said Jamaica's banana sector was poised to record one of its best crops this year. He said the island was projected to export between 34,000 and 35,000 tonnes of bananas this year. At the same time, however, he said banana farmers were experiencing challenges meeting the EUREPGAP certification, which comes into effect in 2008.