The banana sector has set themselves a new challenge and they are are recruiting young agricultural employees for banana plantations. Thirty two young Carribeans have been chosen to learn all about the banana sector. The four month course has been set up in order to create employment in the sector and anticipate current employees getting older. It has been set up by the banana sector in partnership with the Pole Emploi (employment board) and other organisations. The course covers both the practical and theoretical and aims to improve the workers competence in new regulatory, technical and commercial requirements.
For the last 12 or so years, banana producers in Martinique and Guadeloupe have been aiming at farming more sustainable bananas that are more economically viable, environmentally friendly and need workers that are trained in better agricultural practices.
According to the Overseas Minister, the sector represents 8-13,000 jobs, of which 6,000 are direct. The number of jobs is directly linked to the production- any significant decrease in production would lead to a proportional decrease in employment.
On average, banana plantations in Martinique receive €200,000 of POSEI financial aid and €7,390 of other financial aids (i.e. €207,390 per plantation per year). Financial aid for communication , advertising, research and development reached €23,746,500 for the whole of Martinique between 2007-2014.
In Guadeloupe, the total financial aid per plantation reaches €214,314 per year. Financial aid for communication, advertising, research and development reached €24,884,000 over 2007-2014.