Roberto Hoyos Ruiz arrived with the intention of remaining three years as president of the Association of Banana Growers of Colombia (Augura), but the dynamics of the business and challenges have made him stay for more than 11 years.
At the end of this month Roberto Hoyos Ruiz, will leave and among his achievements, he highlights establishing Augura in Santa Marta, the negotiations with the European Union to reduce the tariff on Colombian bananas and permanent management
in Colombia and abroad that helped him land 512,260 pesos for the banana sector.
However, the impact of the revaluation has been negative, to the point that this phenomenon has taken away some 8 billion pesos from banana producers in the last five years, or 1.6 billion per year.
What is the reality of this agribusiness?
"The industry is struggling and today, more than ever, the government must become aware of the problem because they have yet to comprehend the full dimension. The Issuer must be more aggressive in buying dollars to offset the revaluation. The Ministry of Agriculture must find more tools and resources. Workers and unions in the banana industry are also obliged to seek solutions and adjust to reality labor-management conditions."
What did the union do to address the revaluation?
"We have been very creative and we had the commitment of traders, producers and the government to designing solutions which will alleviate the problems of the industry, including health incentive to control the sigatoka, special line for exporters and the use of blue bags was for some time unknown not only to banana producers but for other field activities."
Besides maintaining crops and jobs, what other options are there for Urabá?
"This is a strategic region to develop a large agricultural policy in Colombia, it has 1.2 million hectares with potential for agriculture and reforestation. As for palm there is an alternative for diversification and many are interested to promote it, but it should be noted that the generation of employment in this business is less."
Urgent developments...
"Today, more than ever, Motorways of Prosperity, hopefully are done in the shortest time possible, are fundamental. We believe the road axis to Urabá together with port development, would be a great boost for trade agreements that have been signed."
Source: Elcolombiano