At the opening of the symposium on the fruit sector in Grand-Bassam, in the Côte d’Ivoire, the president of the board of OCAB, the country’s exporters organisation, gave a troubling overview of the sector.
Michel Gnui said that the pineapple, banana, mango and papaya sectors had all suffered considerable losses during the global downturn, estimated at CFA Fr7bn (€10m).
This he attributed to the non-appearance of vessels, the dumping of fruit on the road or at the port, and the non-harvesting of fruit.
An additional reason, he said, was the considerable drop in production of small farmers.
According to Mr Gnui, 213,000 tonnes of pineapples were produced in 2002, accounting for no less than 80 per cent of European consumption. This figure, he said, had fallen to some 60,000 tonnes in 2008.
The number of planters had also fallen dramatically, he added, from 2,000 in 2003 to less than 100 today. This he attributed to competition from Latin American producers and wilting support from European importers.
As for the banana sector, Mr Gnui complained that the number of small producers had fallen to some 7 per cent. Such producers used to make up 90 per cent of the sector, he said.
Further difficulties faced by Côte d’Ivoire’s farmers, particularly small ones, include disease, a lack of equipment and the ever-increasing demands of the European market, Mr Gnui said.
