An umbrella group of banana exporters is asking the government to help farmers get access to micro-financing, instead of trying to “interfere” with business arrangements between investors and growers through a bill pending in Congress.
The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) drew up a list of government support that the industry needed, including training in entrepreneurship and access to scientific knowledge and facilities.
In a white paper, copies of which were sent to the heads of several executive departments including Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, the PBGEA said the government had to help provide small-scale or individual banana growers and farmers access to microfinancing.
Also, the government should—through extension work by agricultural technicians—help impart to banana growers scientific knowledge on precision farming and good agricultural practices, with pragmatic considerations on environmental, public safety and economic concerns.
“(The government should) provide all banana growers and farmers with state-of-the-art laboratory facilities to protect, preserve and promote the industry,” PBGEA said. “(It should help) train farmers to be entrepreneurs and to understand how economies of scale work.”
Further, the group said the government should institutionalize participatory policy-making activities through intensified consultation and feedback gathering from all stakeholders “to really get to the bottom line of the (industry’s) issues and concerns.”
The PBGEA is taking issue with House Bill No. 5161, authored by Ifugao Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat, which they said might kill an industry that brings in some $1 billion into the domestic economy yearly.
HB 5161 proposes to further regulate the establishment and implementation of agribusiness ventures arrangements in land reform areas. The banana group thinks that the bill favors agrarian reform beneficiaries too much, at the expense of private investors.