Producers of barraganete plantain for export from El Carmen (Manabi) and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas are being affected by the fall in prices and diseases, such as the sigatoka, which attack the plantations. According to the producers, the price of a 52-pound box of barraganete plantains stood at USD 8.30 last year, but has decreased to USD 3 and 5 since January. According to the National Federation of Plantain Producers of Ecuador (Fenaprope), the official price is USD 7.30.
However, exporters and intermediaries buy the boxes from farmers at a lower price. "In winter, the harvest yields more than in summer. That's why producers sell at a lower price, so that they can sell their excess of supply before it spoils,"said Luis Loor, president of Fenaprope. According to producers, they have losses when they sell the product at less than USD 6.
Felipe Zambrano, for example, produces 100 boxes per week on 10 hectares in the rural area of El Porvenir, in the canton of El Carmen. He says he invests at least USD 300 per week in freight, fertilizer, and five workers, among things. In addition, he must fight against the sigatoka, a plague that leaves black streaks on the banana. "I spend USD 100 in pest control and 200 dollars in fertilizers, freight, and workers. But I'm only paid USD 315." As a result, he had to fire the employees and ask his family to help him with the crop.
Some 8,000 producers in these two provinces, the largest producers in the country, are facing similar problems. Producers conducted a strike last week in El Carmen, to ask the authorities to respect the official price.
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Ruben Flores, met the producers in El Carmen last week and said he would organize a commission to carry out controls in the collection centers, in the shops of the middlemen, and to exporters. "They will have work with the official price, calculated by the MAG," said the official. Operations will begin next week (last March), led by technicians of the Internal Revenue Service, Superintendence of Market Power Control, Intendancy, and Agrocalidad. The merchants and exporters said they would also request a meeting with the MAG, so that the price can be analyzed according to the international market.
Victor Granda, an exporter, said he sent less product to Colombia. He used to export 100,000 boxes per week, but this year he's only sending 60,000 boxes a week. "Colombia used to re-export the Ecuadorian plantain to Venezuela, but that destination was closed due to the economic crisis."
Minister Flores said at that meeting that they would conduct a feasibility study for the installation of a processing plant for chifles, patacones, and other derivatives. However, Manabi already has six official plants of that type. In addition, there are 66 private workshops that elaborate chifles and patacones, and 33 workshops that make plantain flour, with the support of the Prefecture. According to the producer Limber Cedeño, this wouldn't be a definitive solution, as there is a surplus in the production destined to export.
The country produces the plantain to export it to the US and the Colombian market. Part of the production is for national consumption. "The processing plants buy the plantain destined for local consumption, which has a good quality, however the overproduction is of the plantain destined for export." Only 10% of the 433,000 tons produced in 2016 were destined for national consumption, according to the Central Bank. Of that number, only 2% is processed.