Agriculture Minister Henry Prospere is lamenting what he calls an impending crisis in the banana industry, pertaining to a shortage of boxes.<\/p>\n
He said the authorities plan to address this matter.<\/p>\n
Prospere disclosed that the problem has occurred when there is a surplus of food crops in the local market.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur farmers are now faced with a crisis with the unavailability of boxes at WINERA,\u201d he told reporters at a media briefing on Monday.<\/p>\n
He said the problem has been ongoing for the last three weeks.<\/p>\n
The Minister explained that the authorities had contacted WINERA to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n
WINERA, in turn, disclosed that the company services its machines every year around this time.<\/p>\n
However, Prospere said, there had been a lack of communication with the private exporters.<\/p>\n
As a result, he added, \u201cthe private exporters found themselves not having cartons to export bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the Ministry of Agriculture took a pro-active approach and we requested 7,000 boxes (from) the Dominican Republic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Prospere hoped the supply would arrive in Saint Lucia within the next week.<\/p>\n
However, he noted that the delay could negatively affect farming operations since \u201cit is happening at a time when we have a surplus of bananas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Prospere told reporters that the crop is likely to ripen and that farmers will not be compensated for \u201ctheir hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the farmers have been provided 34,000 bags of fertilizer in the last three weeks, adding to the tension.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means that those fertilizers will further increase production,\u201d the Minister stated.<\/p>\n
Prospere told reporters that the authorities are working to resolve the situation and anticipate that the farmers will continue their harvest.<\/p>\n
He said WINERA revealed that the next material supply would be available by April 10 \u201cto recommence production of cartons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prospere added that while the company has a monopoly on supplying banana boxes, \u201cwe may have to decide to allow another entity, maybe Export Saint Lucia, to import boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Agriculture Minister Henry Prospere is lamenting what he calls an impending crisis in the banana industry, pertaining to a shortage of boxes. He said the authorities plan to address this matter. Prospere disclosed that the problem has occurred when there is a surplus of food crops in the local market. \u201cOur farmers are now faced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Box Shortage Hits Banana Industry","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n