CASTRIES (CMC):
Coordinator of the Windward Islands Farmers Association (WINFA), Renwick Rose, says those who have been announcing the death of the vital banana industry "have been stopped dead in their tracks."
He cited the recent decision of the British supermarket chain, Sainsbury, to convert its entire stock of bananas to Fairtrade, as great news for the industry. He said it serves as a lifeline for banana farmers in the islands who have been discouraged over the years.
"I think the British consumers are demonstrating their confidence in the industry, and it will only help to boost those people who have remained in the industry and will encourage those who mistakenly have been listening to other persons with the negative views, to know that all is not lost and there is place for us in the banana industry," he said here Friday.
However, the WINFA official was quick to add that banana farmers and industry officials must be realistic and come to terms with the fact that bananas will never again be king.
"There was a time when General Motors and Ford were kings in the automobile industry; they are still in the industry, but the industry has changed since the arrival of the Japanese. So, these changes take place within all kinds of industries and are likely to happy in the tourism sector too, which will run into problems when new markets such as Cuba open," he said.
Sainsbury's Chief Executive Justin King last Thursday announced that the company would buy five times as many Fairtrade bananas. The Fairtrade Foundation announced that farmers who work in Central and South America and the Caribbean will benefit from the move. It said the scheme had already given a lifeline for small scale banana growers in the Caribbean.
Under the Fairtrade arrangement, producer organisations get a stable price for bananas to cover their full costs of production plus an extra U.S. dollar per box of fruit, known as the Fairtrade premium.
Rose said that Fairtrade has made a significant difference to the banana industry of the four Windward Islands having saved it from going under.
"I am under no illusion that had it not been for Fairtrade we would have gone out of bananas because the competition on the open market would have been impossible for us to keep up," Rose said.
