The current banana crisis forced producers to prohibit the sale of bananas for a period of four weeks. This is due to the breach of contract agreed between producers and exporters, who still do not comply with the official price of a banana box, which is $5.50.
According to information from the Machala Agricultural Center, producers continue to have problems due to lack of control value of the fruit, therefore receiving between $3.20 and $4.70; a position that hurts more than 4,000 Ecuadorian producers because this takes away full guarantees to continue working.
Paul Gonzales, leader of the centre, said "this step was taken as a result of the continuous irregularities by exporters, who also demanded strict quality requirements."
Gonzales stated at the press conference that, "there are other types of factors that contribute to this crisis, as is the lack of control by any appropriate authority such as: the Unidad de Banano, Agro Calidad, and the Ecuadorian Customs Corporation (CAE), which regulates the payment of the official banana box price."
They expect such practices to end, because if they do not receive a fair price for the box, they can not afford to pay legal commitments. Moreover, they can not keep their employees.
Gonzales stated that illegal planting would have to stop. He called on the president to inspect all crops and sanction the illegal ones, due to the severe damage they are causing by creating oversupply and above all, by causing prices to fall.
Source: Diariopinion.com