BANANA growers and exporters are pinning their hopes on Congress to fast-track the passage of a law creating a research center that would address some of the industry’s production woes such as curbing the spread of Panama disease.
The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) said establishment of the country’s proposed state-of-the-art Banana Research and Development Center has not progressed after years of back-and-forth discussions with the government.
PBGEA Executive Director Stephen A. Antig said the industry remains hopeful that President Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise of the much-needed research facility would come true under his administration.
“There is still no progress. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be passed by Congress. There are bills filed [at the House of the Representatives]. Even in the Senate there is a bill filed by Sen. Imee Marcos,” Antig told the BusinessMirror in a recent interview.
Antig said they hope other lawmakers would show support to the banana industry, which has been grappling with various challenges, just as Albay Rep. Joey Salceda did late last year.
Salceda, the vice chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, said the banana industry is facing a “life-or-death” situation and urged the administration to implement necessary interventions to keep one of the country’s prized agricultural exports surviving. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/10/24/life-or-death-for-bananas-time-to-press-japan-for-zero-tariffs-marcos-urged/)
“We hope other lawmakers will be able to do that, to see the importance of the banana industry,” Antig said.
The PBGEA has been lobbying for the construction of a research facility that would oversee the production of high-yielding and even resistant varieties to Panama disease that has been the bane of the industry in recent years. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/10/23/race-for-survival/)
PBGEA estimates that about 15,000 hectares to 36,000 hectares of the total 88,000 hectares planted with bananas nationwide are infested with Panama disease.
Antig warned that the banana industry would be in a more dire state in five years time if they will not be able to identify a Panama disease-resistant variety in the absence of a research facility.
In the 19th Congress, four bills filed at the House of Representatives seek to establish a research institute or a council to oversee the development of the banana industry. Two of the bills seek to establish a Banana Industry or Export Development Council while one wants to create the National Research Development and Extension Center for bananas.
At the Senate, only Sen. Imee Marcos filed a related bill that wants to establish a Banana Export Development Council.
Nonetheless, all bills seek to appropriate the necessary funds for the development of the banana industry.
Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had filed a bill establishing the Philippine National Banana Research Center in Panabo City, Davao Del Norte, during his stint as a senator in the 16th Congress.
The BusinessMirror earlier reported that the Philippines’s banana exports extended its sagging trend as total volume last year plunged to a six-year low of 2.273 million metric tons (MMT), with producers grappling with production woes from high input costs to the spread of Fusarium wilt. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/02/23/phl-bananas-still-sagging-on-high-costs-pests/)
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