The emergency period declared by Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture, Farming and Fisheries (Magap) for the country’s fledging banana industry will reportedly last a further eight weeks.
During the period, the government will direct funds into fumigating by air plantations of less than 25ha to help control black Sigatoka disease, according to a report by El Comercio.
Minister Staynley Vera announced the decision during a meeting with producers in Machala, located in the region of El Oro, following the end of the initial five-week emergency period on Thursday 22 September.
“The first phase was to help to improve prices a bit `…` now prices are up to US$4.50 but the objective is to reach the official price of US$5.50,” explained Minister Vera.
Despite the efforts, the report said that growers and exporters claim the initial emergency period failed in its bid to reduce exports in order to help prices recover.
According to AEBE general director Eduardo Ledesma, some 2.2m boxes were shipped before the emergency period, while 2.4m boxes were exported during the crisis.
Minister Vera, however, has confirmed that the government bought 150,000 bunches worth US$300,000, although the original goal was to buy up to 1m bunches per week.
During the extended period, the Ministry claims it will continue to buy bunches of export quality for US$3 each, the report said.
Ledesma, meanwhile, has claimed there has been a lack of decision in sanctioning those companies who do not comply with Ecuador's new banana law, which requires all bananas to be exported under contract.
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