Banana rescue: PHL govt mulls assistance for growers

President Benigno Aquino III’s economic team is set to submit Monday their proposed package of assistance for banana growers affected by the stricter phytosanitary measures being implemented by Chinese authorities.

 

At a press briefing Friday, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the president met with the government agencies dealing with the banana issue Thursday.

 

“The President asked the economic team, the respective government officials, to come up with a definitive package assistance plan by next week, Monday,” he said.

 

He said the long-term position of the government is to broaden and increase the markets for banana exports while the short-term is to assist the banana growers.

 

“The exports in China only constitute 30 percent; 70 percent we are doing well. So we need to broaden the market of our banana exports,” he said.

 

“We are going to identify who the affected banana growers are. The President was very, very emphatic that if we’re going to provide assistance, let’s focus on those who really do need the assistance. Not all the banana exports are suffering as much as what the export association claims it is. We have to identify and focus on the growers who send their exports to China,” he added.

 

He said they are looking at ways to provide assistance, cash for work, financial assistance and assistance to the packaging and housing of the bananas to the growers.

 

Chinese agriculture officials had earlier intercepted and blocked 40-foot containers of bananas from the country, claiming the fruits were infested by Aonidiella comperei, a type of worm more commonly found in coconuts.

 

Amid escalating tensions between China and the Philippines over Panatag Shoal, China then extended the inspection to pineapples and papayas.

 

With the stricter measures in place, local banana growers have already lost $236,000, or almost P1 billion, in export receipts, according to the Department of Agriculture.

 

Bananas are the country’s No. 2 agriculture commodity export after coconuts, earning about $720 million a year. According to the DA, the banana sector directly employs some 240,000 workers.

 

China, meanwhile, is the country’s second-largest market for bananas after Japan.

 

Since Wednesday, Chinese authorities have allowed the entry  of at least 170 containers of bananas from the Philippines. —DVM/VS, GMA News