What will GOB do to rehabilitate Banana Industry?

The banana belt in southern has been battered by three consecutive nights of intense thunderstorms, losing an estimated twenty to twenty-five million US dollars. Recovery is expected to take months and some growers will virtually have to start from scratch by replanting their farms. New Five asked the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Rene Montero about the government’s initiative to rehabilitate the industry.

Rene Montero, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

“I was pretty shocked because I never thought it was so extensive. But we have already made some initiatives. We are in constant dialogue with DFC and the S.S.B. to see if we can create a line of credit to give them immediate assistance so that the banana [industry] can recover immediately because it’s so important to the country of Belize because of the foreign exchange earnings and the employment that it creates. Beside that we’ve already created a task force headed by our Chief Executive Officer and they will be looking at long term funding for the banana belt.”

Delahnie Bain

Rene Montero

“I know one of the concerns that were raised yesterday is the potential loss of jobs. With the negotiation that you’re doing, do you think that will be avoided?”

Rene Montero

“Personally, I don’t think there will be a loss of jobs, perhaps there will be in the packing shed. But in the fields they will need to double the employment because they have to clean those fields and they have to start a new planting program to ensure that we don’t lose that market. So we are going to work with the banana people to ensure that they recover as quickly as possible without suffering major losses.”