Colombia, the fifth largest supplier of bananas in the world, plans to increase its exports of the fruit by 5% this year, after the drop due to lower productivity in 2023. despite the fact that the value of sales increased due to a successful marketing campaignsaid a sector leader on Wednesday.
The South American country exported 105.5 million 20-kilo boxes last year, 2.3% below the 108.1 million boxes in 2022, due to excess rains that reduced productivity.
However, the value of fruit exports totaled US$969.1 million last year, 8.7% above the US$891.8 million in 2022.
“We are aiming to grow our exports by at least 5% in volume by 2024,” the president of the Colombian Banana Growers Association (Augura), Emerson Aguirre, said in an interview with Reuters.
“We also look for a decent and fair price that guarantees the sustainability of the producer and increases our productivity by 5 percent.“he explained.
Productivity per hectare last year was 2,026 boxes per hectare, similar to that of 2022, due to an increase in rainfall in production areas. which also caused outbreaks of black Sigatokaa destructive foliar disease caused by a fungus that affects plantations, which forced fumigations to be reinforcedAguirre revealed.
Bananas are the third agricultural export product after coffee and flowers, with 50,000 direct jobs, according to Augura.
The main export destinations for the fruit last year were the countries of the European Union with 66%, the United States with 17% and the United Kingdom with 14%, Aguirre said.
In 2019, Colombia detected the Fusarium Tropical Race 4 fungus in the department of La Guajira, which causes the disease popularly known as Panama disease, which attacks the roots of the Cavendish banana variety, but is under control due to the implementation of a containment model that includes strict health control, said the manager.
Colombia, the fifth largest exporter of the fruit in the world after Ecuador, Guatemala, the Philippines and Costa Rica, maintained its area planted with bananas in 2023 at around 53,000 hectares.
Aguirre warned of a possible increase in moko, a bacteria or phytopathogen that attacks crops, due to the floods that are beginning to occur in the main production areas due to an increase in rainfall associated with the La Niña climate phenomenon.
