Yesterday, a small group of Brazilian banana producers took advantage of the opening of an international agribusiness forum in São Paulo to protest the government's decision of authorizing imports of Ecuadorian bananas.
Farmers from the southern region of the state of São Paulo, the main banana producer in Brazil, displayed banners with slogans against the decision of the government to authorize the entry of Ecuadorian bananas.
Some of the slogans read: Banana in Ecuador, unemployment in Brazil; The Minister of Agriculture despises the banana producers from Brazil; and Dilma authorizes banana imports, what about family farming?
Protesters also distributed bananas amongst the motorists passing by the hotel where the Global Agribusiness Forum is being held in the south of São Paulo.
The Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Neri Geller said they were importing bananas from Ecuador as part of their policy to fight inflation.
"Banana imports are part of our country's economic situation. We need to defend national production, but in a scenario in which there is no inflationary impact," said the minister.
The removal of restrictions on imports of Ecuadorian bananas was published last Friday in the Official Journal, after a suspension was placed on them in 1997 because of the presence of pests.
Protesters believe that this will hurt the Brazilian production, which is the third largest in the world.
Source: Reuters