The president wished to convey his conviction about the need for the sector to remain united under Asprocan in order to ensure the granting of European aid, a good management in times of crisis and the protection of the brand of the PGI Plátano de Canarias.
For its part, Asprocan has outlined the achievements obtained thanks to the joint work carried out by the entire sector when it comes to defending the reality of all producers and their particularities.
"The joint work of the producers through the Producer Organizations (PO), organised and coordinated by Asprocan, has made it possible to defend the needs of the banana sector of the Canary Islands and maintain the aid to the banana sector in a context of unfair competition, given the reduction in the tariffs applied to non-European bananas," they point out.
"Unity has also been a key to guarantee the survival of the sector, as solidarity schemes have allowed all producers to deal with market crisis situations," they say. "The decisions adopted by the sector in times of crisis are hard for all producers and always the last option, but the priority should be to prevent producers from going bankrupt."
"Fruit withdrawals are only made at critical moments for the producers and affect less than 2.5% of the total volume marketed, but they are necessary to ensure the survival and sustainability of the sector," they say. "The management of market crises with this democratic, supportive and binding system for all PO's has saved growers from rising debt and bankruptcy since 2002-2003," they say, while also allowing for the creation of one of the strongest brands in Spain's agro-food sector.
Source: eldiario.es
