BANANAS EH DEAD YET!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he banana farmers in Saint Lucia are privileged to have a dedicated governmental entity that provides them with technical support, and some financial and material assistance during critical times. At present, the newly established Banana Productivity Improvement Project (BPIP) has the honour of fulfilling that role. The BPIP replaces the Black Sigatoka Management Project which was headed by a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

The main objective of the BPIP is to improve productivity, that is, the rate of output per unit of input. To achieve this objective, the BPIP is staffed with individuals having a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding the banana industry and the overall agricultural sector. The manager of the project has been affiliated with a number of organisations including the Mabouya Valley Development Project, the Saint Lucia Agriculturist Association, the Chamber of Agriculture, the Saint Lucia Development Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture. The officer in charge of pest and disease control has worked for an extended period in the Ministry of Agriculture and has served in a similar position with the last three predecessors of the BPIP, namely, the Banana Emergency Recovery Unit, the Banana Production Management Unit and the Black Sigatoka Management Project. A former manager of the Saint Lucia National Fairtrade Organisation is also part of the team and the agronomist is a former employee of the Ministry of Agriculture with a long history of public service. In terms of funding, a press release indicated that the Taiwanese government has earmarked an estimated US$5.1 million to be invested in the banana industry.

Farmers have been purchasing fertilizers and fungicide/oil mixture (for the treatment of leafspot disease) at a subsidized rate well below the market price. However, the BPIP must ensure that it calculates productivity using the market price of these inputs to avoid misleading the farmers, putting them in a worse-off situation when they are no longer able to purchase inputs at the subsidized price.

The BPIP has installed a geographic information system (GIS) which incorporates the electronic capturing of disease data. While this newly established system sets the BPIP apart from its predecessors, it must keep in mind that agricultural data could be misleading at times. The managers of the predecessors of the BPIP would agree with that statement. They may have noticed how farm acreages instantly increase once farmers receive free or subsidized inputs but the farm acreage suddenly decreases once farmers have to make payments for services based on these acreages.

To distinguish itself from its predecessors, the BPIP must ensure that inputs are always readily available and accessible throughout the year. Most importantly, it should ensure that the production resulting from the technical and related support is actually sold on the international and regional markets, as opposed to being fed to farm animals or left to rot away in the fields, as has been witnessed in the not too distant past.