Banana Production
Major developments are scheduled to take place shortly in the Jamaican banana industry, with an emphasis on production for the export market.
Addressing the opening of the Hague Agricultural and Livestock Show in Trelawny, agriculture minister Derrick Kellier said the developments would include putting more land into banana cultivation, in order to take advantage of a thriving market in the United Kingdom.
According to the Jamaica Observer, Kellier said that while on a recent visit to the UK, discussions were held with major stakeholders with a view to getting more Jamaican produce, mainly ripe and green bananas, into that market.
He reportedly told delegates: “I can report very good news. Coming out of our trip to England there are expressions of interest from three major importers of bananas, ripe and green, to which we have started to respond.”
He added that emphasis will be placed on getting more idle lands into banana production, with over 380 hectares of land being targeted.
Assistance will come through the All Island Banana Growers Association (AIBGA), utilising a special credit scheme, the Observer reported.
Figure reflects growers’ success in overcoming an outbreak of a disease, Hurricane Tomas and the flooding of Christmas Eve 2013
St Lucia exported a record 5,000 tons of bananas to the UK in 2014, the former British colony’s ministry of agriculture, food production and fisheries has claimed.
The growth in exports of the fruit was made possible largely by “continuing government support to battle disease, provision of fertilizers and active cooperation between agriculture officers and the island’s remaining banana farmers,” the Caribbean island’s ministry said in a statement.
The figure reflects growers’ success in overcoming an outbreak of Black Sigatoka disease, the damage done in 2010 by Hurricane Tomas and the flooding of Christmas Eve 2013, according to the statement.
St Lucia’s banana-growing Windward Island neighbors – Grenada, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – “haven’t been able to produce enough to export continuously,” the ministry statement also claimed.
In 2013, 28.8% of St Lucia’s exports were related to agriculture, according to data from the World Trade Organisation.
St Lucia’s principal export markets are the US, Trinidad and Tobago, the EU, Barbados, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.