Banana industry sees 30% loses this year

THE banana industry may have survived the threats of an aerial spray ban but it will not be spared from the adverse effects of the El Nino phenomenon.

Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) president Stephen Antig said they expect losses by as much as 30 percent of their production this year, prodding them to earnestly hope that a “divine intervention” will happen soon.

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"The six-week dry spell is already taking its toll on our bananas. Plantations are experiencing shortage of water," Antig said during the Club 888 press forum Wednesday at the Marco Polo Davao. "Right now, we are on our last recourse, to call on divine intervention for an end to this dry spell."

Based on their average annual production, the banana industry produces over 160 million boxes.

"We will lose 30 percent of that or over 50 million boxes of our production," Antig said, adding that the effects of the dry spell will extend until the first quarter of 2011.

The immediate effect of El Nino on the bananas is the production of smaller and underweight fruits which the foreign markets will not accept.

"Most of these will be given to the community around the plantations, which they can process as banana chips, banana flour, or catsup," Antig said.

However, even if rains will come and pour over most plantations, the shoots of bananas that have grown during the dry season will still be yielding small and underweight fruits not suitable for export.

"Things will only normalize by the start of 2011," Antig said adding that the shortage will have ripple effects in the global supply of banana, of which Philippine bananas play a major role. (CPM)