The Laguna Naineck branch of the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA) highlighted the effort made by the producers from Formosa to achieve the harvest, and blamed the provincial government for "the disappearance of 75% of the banana planting area and other crops in the last 15 years."
"We have observed that only 40% of Formosa's banana production bloomed, so the harvest should peak from June to September," stated Panfilo Ayala, a representative of the national organization. "The situation of the 1,600 hectares of banana production in the province ranges from fair to good," he said. "This is due to the lack of rain in February, and the high temperatures. In any case, this year we'll produce some 45,000 tons of bananas," he stated.
"Small banana producer from Formosa work very hard to achieve a production that is in line with the demands of the market in a timely manner," he added.
"A very low profitability doesn't allow producers to have enough capital to achieve an excellent product; despite this, the product's quality is quite good and we can compete with the foreign banana that enters the country. The commercial limitations don't allow us to achieve a reference price that permits producers to obtain the profits they need," he said.
"While it is true that the provincial government helps producers with non-refundable assistance, I must clarify that this support only amounts to 5% of the costs needed to achieve production, so producers are responsible for the remaining 95% runs," he stated.
"I make this clarification, because many times official authorities make it sound like the production was possible thanks to official support. I don't deny they are assisting us, I'm just explaining the real scope of the aid," he said.
"We continue to insist on policies that guarantee the very existence of the crop in the province. In the last 15 years, more than 75% of the banana planting area, and other crops, has disappeared because of the absence of State policies that are consistent with a repeating reality," he said. "The provincial government has repeatedly used its assistance in speeches that are far from reality, as the small producer is still largely responsible for the existence of the banana in Formosa," he reaffirmed.
"The FAA wants a differentiated policy for banana producers from Formosa; in the last 20 years we have negotiated with the Municipality of our town, the Government of the province, and the national State, asking for specific measures to address sanitary and commercial issues, proposing very specific ideas that officials, who fail to understand that the existence of the fields revolve around production, have ignored so far," he stated.
"Diversifying production without a policy that allows marketing it is useless" he added.
