In the Philippines, Agribusiness Ventures Arrangements (AVA) are currently being reviewed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). Local banana growers and stakeholders are worried that government interference with live contracts will provide a disincentive to local and foreign investors, and are hence calling on the Duterte administration to intervene on the issue.
“This interference has changed the strategic direction of local corporate farms in relations to their expansion plans,” the groups said in a statement over the weekend of Oct., 14.
Stakeholders noted that government policy and consistency play a very vital role in the stability of banana supply and the strategic direction of investors who are contemplating to invest in large-scale banana farming.
AVAs are agreements between private investors in banana plantations and Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) and the DAR is currently reviewing existing AVAs, also known as leasebacks agreements.
Stakeholders noted that ARBs among these workers are being courted and encouraged by the communists to complain about their AVAs.
They claim the communists are employing a two-pronged approach against the companies operating the plantations by demanding revolutionary taxes which is simply extortion, and playing on the inefficiencies of cooperatives composed of the ARBs.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said concerns about law and order are now being addressed and a Banana Industry Development Council (BIDC) will be created.
He also announced that the Chinese authorities lifted their ban on Philippine bananas prior to his scheduled visit later this week.
The President has said he is “open to all other issues where the banana stakeholders would want government to intervene,” because Mindanao will propel the local agriculture industry.
“The greatest challenge for the banana growers in the Philippines is really law and order … If it’s not taxation by the communists, it’s extortion by the roving bandits in Mindanao,” Duterte has said.
