by Lovely Carillo
VINEGAR and ketchup, anyone?
These two end products may as well be what will become of high-grade and exportable bananas from the Davao region and the rest of the Philippines if Iran’s ban on 49 imported fresh fruits, including Philippine bananas, fruit concentrate and dairy products is not lifted soon.
“We were caught with our pants down—we did not expect the embargo to happen,” Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association executive director Stephen Antig said during Wednesday’s Club 888 media forum held at The Marco Polo Davao.
Last month’s embargo came at a time when Philippine banana exporters, especially those from the Davao region, are looking at the Middle East as an alternative market to Japan.
“We were hoping that eventually the Middle East market will replace Japan since the Japanese market has levelled off,” he said. PBGEA considers the Middle East, China and Korea as new markets for the region’s banana products, he said.
Iran is one of the biggest importers of banana coming from the Davao region. Antig said the region exports about 50 million boxes of bananas to the Middle East every year and 13.27 percent of that goes to Iran.
Fresh bananas topped the list of Southern Mindanao’s exports for the first three quarters of 2009 with a registered export value of US$544 million. Philippine banana has been enjoying worldwide popularity through Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte, so the sudden ban on the fresh fruits gave rise to suspicion that it was a result of political and economic pressures exerted by the United States to force Iran to toe the line when it comes to its nuclear program.
The ban on Philippine banana will affect 16,000 hectares of banana in the region and in other parts of Mindanao. And if the ban continues indefinitely, it will result to a bleak Christmas for 64,000 workers with some 384,000 individuals as dependents.
“The region is set to lose $175 million or about P7.2 billion in annual revenues due to the ban,” he said.
Bananas for oil
Antig said the industry is looking at other ways to temper the effects of the ban. One possibility is to barter bananas with products from Iran like oil. Such a possibility was already taken up when the Iranian Ambassador to the Philippines, Ali Mojtaba Rouzbehani, paid a courtesy call on acting regional governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong at the ARMM-Manila liaison office last August.
At the time, he added, Iran’s decision to stop importation of bananas from the Philippines had not been decided yet, “But we will definitely explore such possibility, otherwise, can you imagine the number of boxes that you cannot export—-mangangamoy suka—most probably, they will be converted to vinegar or ketchup?” he said.
The possibility of barter trading the country’s (specifically the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) bananas and other fruits (mangosteen and durian) with Iran’s crude oil was actually proposed by Rouzbehani. The US had earlier issued an embargo on Iran’s petroleum products, so, a barter of these products can benefit both countries with the ban on Philippine bananas.
Banana wars
Antig said it is also not possible for the Philippines to explore other markets since other banana-producing countries have problems with their produce. The whole embargo will probably result to a “banana war” which happened in the 1980s, he added.
Bananas actually plays an important role not only in the world economy but also its politics. Banana entrepreneurs in North America attempted to unseat the governments of Nicaragua and Honduras in the 20th century. After World War II, there were more bananas than buyers resulting to reduced prices and profits. Another banana war, (actually a price war) erupted in 1974 which also led to the coining of the term banana republics.
“What we did in the 80s—we decided to impose an agreement among ourselves that we can only export so much-otherwise we will all die,” Antig said. The profits of banana exporters have actually gone down due to the strong peso versus the dollar, but Antig said the losses now will be somehow tempered because of the present peso-dollar rate.
The banana industry is still in a quandary, although PBGEA officials are happy that the government, through the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture, are helping them find a solution or an option.
But until the embargo is lifted, or a solution is arrived at, thousands of people in the Davao region and other banana-exporting areas can only look at a bleak Christmas ahead of them.
