Faced with the competition from Latin America, banana producers of Guadeloupe and Martinique are diversifying their offer with two new products this year, the “organic French banana” and the “child banana”. The latter will be available in France in April. It is a smaller banana, in clusters of 3, 4, 5 or 6 fruits. They will be sold at the same price as the large bananas in order to promote the Caribbean product against its Latin-American competitor, from Ecuador especially, first exporter in the world.
American bananas are going to benefit from lower taxes. From 176 euros/ton [200 USD/ton] in 2010, they will cost only 75 euros [85 USD] next year. Meanwhile, the producers in Guadeloupe and Martinique segment their offer to get more added value on the share of the French market they still have (currently 40%).
In 2015, they launched the “French banana” sold in clusters, which helped reduce waste in supermarkets. Since last year, the “fair banana” has also been enhancing the production from farms of less than 5 hectares.
By the end of the year, “the organic French banana” will be introduced. It used to be nearly impossible to grow organic bananas in the Caribbean. The extreme humidity kept bringing back the black sigatoka, a disease of the banana plant that could not be fully controlled without pesticides. Today, research has developed a new variety resistant to this fungus. It is therefore a classic hybrid of the wild banana plants.
Source: rfi.fr