Vincentian PM speaks out on banana crisis
Dr. Ralph Gonsalves
(Caricom Photo)
Friday, October 10, 2003
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent: St. Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, says a national effort is required for the salvation of the region's banana industry.
Speaking at the sitting of the House of Assembly recently, the prime minister said although his administration had done many things to assist farmers locally, some "good" farmers have been feeling the "pinch" of the ailing industry.
He told fellow house members that he used the plight of the farmers as a cue to implement certain corrective measures. Dr. Gonsalves, who in the Caricom quasi-government with responsibility for bananas, announced that the agricultural input warehouse on the island would be reduced for the rest of the year. He also disclosed that government would pay the warehouse, on behalf of the Banana Growers Association, almost
$EC500,000 to subsidise the price at which fertilizers were sold to farmers. Dr. Gonsalves also noted that under the Agricultural Diversification Project, EC$250,000 would be spent on the preparation of farmers to meet the Euro General Agricultural Practice standard.
The prime minister said while it is important that these measures be put in place, he felt it necessary to put "an ease" on the farmers.
"We have to deal with the issue of rural poverty," he stated.
The banana situation took a down turn when Britain entered the Single Market in Europe in January 1993. In July of that year, a series of changes regulating the entering of bananas into the market were made, and according to Dr. Gonsalves, those changes progressively have made the market situation worse for Windward Islands farmers.
He said that export production level had fallen from 76,095 tonnes in 1992 to 34,543 tonnes in 2002 and quickly added that due to the passage of tropical storm Lili last year and the prolonged drought experienced this year, the estimated production level for 2003 would be just below 30,000.
Dr. Gonsalves said the ability for farmers to thrive and survive under such trying conditions is a measure of their "resilience and hard work."
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