Banana Workers, Farmers and Consumers Call for Dramatic Changes To The European Banana Import Regime

An international agreement is needed to address the social, economic and environmental impact of banana production and trade and to end instability in the world banana trade concluded plantation workers' unions from Latin America, small banana farmers from the Caribbean and Ecuador, and European NGOs and unions. These organisations met from the 20-22nd November 2002 in Belgium to discuss proposals for the future of the European Banana Import Regime after the accession of the 10 new member countries to the EU in 2004 and the overhaul of the EU banana regime planned to be implemented by 2006.

Liz Parker, National Coordinator of Banana Link says "COLSIBA, UROCAL, WINFA and EUROBAN fear that if a tariff only regime replaces the current tariff-rate quota system as planned without taking into account the social and environmental impact on small farmers, workers and their communities, the consequences will be even more damaging than the current system, leading to further poverty in the banana exporting countries."

The organisations are concerned that changes to the banana regime:

• Will dramatically intensify the tendency of companies to pull out of Central America and Colombia to seek lower wage and non-unionised sources e.g. in Ecuador and Brazil.
• Will not be a solution to the chronic oversupply of the world market and will depress prices further which in turn will impact on the ability of small farmers to remain in the market, increase unemployment, reduce working conditions, increase rural exodus and drive farmers out of production.
• Will accelerate the shift to intensive methods and the concentration of production and marketing in the hands of an even smaller number of companies and retailers. Intensive production methods increase reliance on pesticide use, which has a dire impact on the health of workers, farmers and their communities particularly on women as well as on the natural environment.

"There is an urgent need for concrete mechanisms to support environmentally friendly and socially rewarding production and trading systems such as Fair Trade and Fair Trade Organic bananas," stressed WINFA Coordinator Renwick Rose. "Fair Trade has proven to be the most encouraging development for small-scale banana farmers in the Windward Islands."

Participants in the meeting are also concerned that the enlargement of the European Union will be done without proper consultation with the citizens, operator and consumers of the ten countries proposed to enter the European Union, and without taking into account the impact on small farmers and workers in producing countries. The European Union has committed itself to reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development around the world.

EUROBAN, COLSIBA, WINFA and UROCAL call on the European Union to take the social and environmental impacts of the banana import regime into account. "The EU must involve us directly in the debate about how to reverse the 'race to the bottom' in which half a million banana workers and their families are currently trapped", said a COLSIBA spokesman.

Download the EUROBAN Trade Policy Discussion Paper