Spain: New markets sought for Canary bananas to prevent discards

The throwing away of banana surpluses to avoid excessive price falls is a legal practice, but "socia…

The throwing away of banana surpluses to avoid excessive price falls is a legal practice, but "socially unacceptable." The Councillor of Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, has insisted on the need to address this problem; he announced the search for "markets outside the Peninsula" to sell the production and reduce the surplus and highlighted the measures adopted by the sector. In fact, he assured that the volume of discarded fruit "has been reduced" compared to 2015.

Quintero stated that his department and the producers have already held several meetings to try to reduce the volume of bananas that ends up as processed waste. He explained that, in recent months, 2.1 million kilos have been donated to food banks in the Peninsula and that "a lot of" fruit has been devoted to livestock use. The Councillor praised the "efforts" made by banana growers and recalled that the cost of shipping the surplus to NGOs is covered by the producers.

The reduction in the volume discarded has been achieved despite the greater production obtained this year, as revealed by data supplied by the sector. The volume of bananas exported to the Peninsula amounts to nine million kilos per week, two above the average of the last four seasons, so their market share exceeds 75%. This "mass shipping" of fruit to the domestic market has led, however, to a decline in prices and in the revenue generated by the growers.

For his part, Francisco Déniz warned that "small producers are the most affected by discards," a claim that the Councillor agreed with.