Philippine banana marketer Lapanday Foods Corporation will take action this week against growers accused of ‘pole vaulting’ – or selling their bananas to third parties in violation of marketing contracts – with an action already filed against one of the company’s growers.
According to Lapanday’s Hernani P Geronimo, head of human resources and shared services, the practice has become “orchestrated” among agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) – growers and grower cooperatives that have received funding to help develop their lands.
“This is a mercenary, desperate and coordinated attempt to defy our marketing contract with our growers, and I believe that the problem is also being faced by the other members of the association `Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, or PBGEA`,” Mr Geronimo told local reporters last week.
He said Lapanday will this week exploit all available avenues against buyers and consolidators practicing pole-vaulting, reported the Daily Mirror.
Lapanday has filed a specific case before the Provincial Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (PARAB), accusing the Hijo Plantation Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative 1 (Hearbco) in Davao del Norte of pole-vaulting.
Hearbco is contracted to provide Lapanday with 1m boxes of bananas a year from its 410ha of plantations under a fixed buying price, with the contract running from 1999 to 2019.
But after bringing on a new board of directors, the cooperative has reportedly begun selling its bananas to a third-party buyer – identified as Goldland Philippines using its Dedoro brand – and providing Lapanday with only half the contractually required volume, said the marketer’s lawyer Jocelyn Valencia.
Lapanday provided Hearbco with a cash advance of 134m pesos in 2000 and 28m pesos in July last year to pay off debt and redevelop its plantations.
The third-party buyer was able to pay higher prices per box – US$5 compared to US$3 – because that advance was repaid via amortisation on the delivered bananas, reported the Business Mirror.
“This third-party company or consolidator does not belong to our organisation,” said Mr Geronimo. “It can afford to offer this high buying price to our growers because they do not spend anything to develop and grow the bananas. They just pop out from somewhere and buy the bananas at a higher price.”
Lapanday has reportedly appealed to local government units and regulatory bodies to combat the problem.
