The island's banana farmers have commenced the process of getting Fair-trade certification for local bananas.

"This will result in an additional premium in the price of bananas entering the export market once the whole question of fair trade certification is approved," Senator Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society said.

Fair-trade certification is a system designed to allow people to identify products which meet particular environmental, labour and developmental standards. It is overseen by the Fair-trade Labelling Organisations International and FLO-CERT.

The Fair-trade label signifies that fruits are produced under environmentally sustainable conditions and in keeping with standards of international labour.

"In other words, if we can have the necessary certification that we are producing our banana under these conditions, then consumers in the European Union (EU) are willing to pay a premium price. A component of that price will be related to the social and community projects," he said.

Indirect income

In highlighting the importance of the banana industry to Jamaica, Senator Grant noted that the industry provides both direct and indirect income for more than 16,000 rural families.

"The industry has been a significant player in the economy for the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas, St. Mary, Clarendon, St. Catherine, and St. James. One of the areas we should not forget is that we are actually consuming more bananas here in Jamaica than we export," he said.

Senator Grant also announced that the money earned from the export of bananas has grown from US$4.7 million in 2005 to US$13.4 million in 2006, representing an increase of more than 250 per cent.

Jamaica produced just over 107,000 tonnes of banana last year. Aproximately 32,000 tonnes of that amount was exported to the European Union.