John Myers Jr., Agriculture Coordinator
( L - R ) WILSON and HALL
WITH CHANGES to international trade agreements and increased competition from low-cost Latin American producers, stakeholders in the local banana industry are repositioning themselves using new technologies to improve production.
In fact, contrary to recent trends which show Jamaica's banana industry declining, farmers are adamant that the sector will become one of the more vibrant agricultural sub-sectors in the future.
Clifton Wilson, field services manager for the European Union Banana Support Programme, told a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday that more farmers were using technology and modern farming techniques to improve efficiency and the yield per acre. He said that farmers were getting between 15 and 20 tonnes of bananas per acre.
Dr. Marshall Hall, managing director of Jamaica Producers Group, said that the technology used on banana farms was on par with those used by competitors in other banana-producing countries.
"Contrary to what we often hear in the media of banana being a yesterday industry, we think very much that banana is a tomorrow industry," Dr. Hall said.
FRESH FOOD CONCERN
He said "there is an increasing concern for fresh food consumption in the world (and) we feel we can play our part in providing the banana, which is a fruit that figures heavily in that fresh food consumption," Mr. Hall added that the sector was recovering from the effects of the recent hurricanes and was on target to export between 35,000-40,000 tonnes of bananas this year.
Further to the promising prospects outlined, Dr. Hall pointed out that "because we consume bananas as a fruit, vegetable and snack food in Jamaica, and if there is anything left it can be fed to cattle, we feel that the banana is nicely poised to meet the agricultural growth in Jamaica."
It is estimated that about 100,000 tonnes of bananas are consumed locally and industry players believe there is room for growth with more production of snack foods and development of new products such as flour, drinks, medicines for skin and heart conditions currently being pursued by the Scientific Research Council.
Dr. Hall's positive outlook supports a similar view held by Bobby Pottinger, president of the All-Island Banana Growers Association.
"I am very optimistic about banana. Banana has been around for over a hundred years and can still be around for another hundred years from now," he said.
Mr. Pottinger said there was an increasing demand for local bananas in the hotel sector and on the domestic market in light of what he said was an increased awareness of the health values of banana among the people.
"In fact, you can't get as much on a regular basis, but more and more farmers are really positioning themselves to take charge of this market and at the same time remaining in export," Mr. Pottinger noted.
