Peruvian organic bananas continue growing year after year

BOS Salitral is a Peruvian non-profit association comprised of approximately 600 organic banana producers, with a total of 540 hectares. Milbort Paul Tavara Hernández, general manager, affirms that "the association was created in order to give growers the ability to sell their fruit, because individually it was impossible due to a lack of profitability. With BOS, they are now able to sell their produce on a large scale."

The banana variety grown by BOS producers is the Cavendish, which they have been familiar with for years, but according Milbort, new varieties have also been imported, such as the Williams, "which is currently only cultivated on private holdings, but which our project also plans to introduce as part of a partial renovation that will allow us to increase productivity."

At the moment, the association exports ten weekly containers to different markets in Europe (60%) and the U.S. (40%). "We are also negotiating a new marketing model along with Gemini International, which involves the direct sale of our produce to markets and supermarkets," says Milbort. 

Rafael Carrera, director of Gemini, a family involved in production since May 2004 and based in Montreal, Canada, explains that they have been BOS' partners for ten years and have spent two years developing this idea to allow a direct relationship between importers and distributors in Canada, "and at the same time with BOS, allowing the latter to increase its presence in North America," he adds. 

100% of Peru's organic banana production is devoted for export, with ever-increasing volumes. Milbort states that "last year we were shipping eight or nine containers weekly and now we are exporting a total of fourteen. At regional level, the growth registered is of over 15% and the market continues giving us support to continue this trend."

BOS also focuses on ensuring good practices, from field to export. "Piura has always been known as the best area for the cultivation of our bananas and we perform controls in both the certification and the technical area to provide producers with the best tools and the best inputs to obtain a quality product," concludes general manager of the association.