Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer
HALL
WITH THE expected fallout in the banana industry from changes to existing trading agreements with the European Union (EU), the primary export market for Jamaican bananas, Dr. Marshall Hall, managing director of the Jamaica Producers Group (JP) says there is potential for growth in the overseas banana snack market.
"We need to get our snack food into the market, and I say snacks, because there are a number of snacks we can produce from bananas [including] banana fries, sweet chips from the ripened fruit " There are a lot of sweet [banana] chips and plantain chips on markets in the United States, Central America and Europe."
He lamented that the marketing support was lacking. "None of them (snacks) are from Jamaica. We have not got our marketing act and resources as yet well put together," he stressed.
He says the local banana chips industry has grown significantly since 1980, but little attention has been paid to overseas markets. The industry produces mostly savoury snacks from bananas and some from plantains, a variant of the banana. The industry is worth at least $300 million locally. Some companies producing savoury banana chips export to the United Kingdom and the United States, but their presence on the market is weak.
"Anything that any other starch (produces) can be done with bananas, so you can have banana fries, you can have banana flour, anything a potato can do a banana can do," he says. "The question is whether it can be done as efficiently and as economically."
Dr. Hall says snacks from plantains are also potential exports for the island as it is preferred in Central American countries, but the island's production of the fruit is dismal. "We are striving with the support of the European Union Banana Support Programme to increase our plantain production and we are making some strides there," he says.
CHALLENGES
He explains, however, that while there is a market for snacks, there are some challenges because bananas are harder to mechanise than potatoes. "Bananas curve with a lot of latex, it is very costly to peel and that is a bit of a drawback to its use as a starch and therefore we have not seen much outside banana as a green vegetable,"he further explains.
Dr. Hall's comments come in light of a declining banana industry and impending changes to EU trade agreements that will present even greater difficulties for the industry. Banana is the second largest agricultural export for the island and employs between five and 10 per cent of the labour force.
In September 2004, nearly 100 per cent of the crop was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. This severely affected exports which ceased in the months following the hurricane due to the damage. The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) reports that nearly $1 billion in revenues was lost as a result.
While many believe the survival of the industry could be stayed with diversification, Dr. Hall believes otherwise.
He says shifting production to lands better suited for banana production has been the emphasis of his company in order to increase yields since learning of the impending changes to existing trade arrangements.
He says since 1980 the acreage of lands under banana production has reduced drastically from 40,000 acres to about 10,000 in the export sector.
DOMESTIC MARKET
He notes further that the majority of banana produced is consumed on the domestic market. "The data is hard to come by but the Banana Export Company did some survey some years ago and concluded that round about 90,000 tonnes of banana were consumed annually in Jamaica in all phases of the banana trade," he says.
Diversification is not necessarily a solution for small farmers across the island either. They contribute some 10 to 15 per cent to banana exports.
President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant says farmers usually look to complement their income from intercropping rather than diversification.
"Once you go into bananas for export those fields have to be in certain condition and (must maintain) a certain quality status," he says. "Really you can't intercrop in the banana fields, but on additional lands around it you can engage in other activities that generate cash," he explains.
Complementary crops generally include crops such as tomato, cabbage, lettuce and other vegetables.
