Banana farmers in the south of Saint Lucia were given an opportunity today to vent their views as to what steps should be taken to revive the ailing industry in a meeting, organized by the Taiwanese Technical Mission in collaboration with the Banana Productivity Improvement Programme (BPIP).
Lucien Labanard, an extension officer attached to the BPIP, stated: “We basically want to feel their pulse as to what it is that they are figuring out the industry should be. How it should be transformed moving forward. We have a situation where we have a number of farmers that were associated with a number of trading companies, who are not able to shift their fruits, and you know right now, we do not have any bananas going to the UK.”
There is a task force set up by government to look into the operations of the banana industry and come up with recommendations. Labanard said he is not sure whether they have yet made any.
Farmers at the meeting said they are not convinced such a meeting will bring about any meaningful change in the industry, which for many years has been riddled with problems. Isaac Maurice, chairman of the southern farmers group said since the implementation of BPIP, nothing has been done to address the plight of banana farmers, who have been suffering for many years. He is calling on farmers to unite in order to ensure that their concerns are being addressed by government.
Source: stlucia.loopnews.com