They warn of a colossal fall in harvests: in Latin America, banana producers strangled by El Niño and soaring costs

Latin American banana producers are worried. And for good reason: the consequences of the climate crisis are being felt, with sharp drops in production due to extreme weather conditions caused by this year's El Niño episode. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, a fair trade organization.

Heavy rains in Peru and Ecuador, strong winds in Colombia and the risk of drought in the Dominican Republic are already weakening crops. Previous episodes of El Niño demonstrate the extent of the consequences: agricultural productivity fell by 13% in the Dominican Republic, 22% in Ecuador and 6% in Peru. In 1983, one of the most violent episodes on record, 15% of banana plantations in Ecuador were affected, leading to a 36% drop in exports.

The figures confirm the sector's concerns. Between July and September, banana exports from the Caribbean region of Colombia fell by 32%, to $122 million, specifies The Guardian. In September, shipments even fell by 42% year-on-year, while revenues fell from 70 to 40 million dollars, according to the Magdalena and La Guajira producers association.

Losses to be expected "Over the last ten years, the climate has changed a lot. It's getting hotter and hotter... it's really intense. Some regions have suffered losses because of the climate: floods, violent winds.

This will affect all of us (our workers, our colleagues) everything will be strongly threatened and our wages will drop,” Antonio Flores Muños, an employee at the banana producer Agrosiete in Colombia, told Fairtrade Ever. The same observation for Juan David Ortiz, who operates two farms in the department of Quindío, in Colombia. Interviewed by France Culture, he explains that he had to adapt his practices in the face of droughts and torrential rains: modification of the sowing schedule, increased fertilization and installation of water tanks.

Despite these precautions, he already anticipates more than 50% losses on his plantain crops. Water scarcity also affects cities. In Medellín, around ten neighborhoods have been experiencing power cuts for 40 days.

The authorities are maintaining these restrictions in order to preserve water reserves in anticipation of the most critical period of the El Niño phenomenon, expected from December. A “need” to review banana prices Faced with this situation, associations are calling on international markets to guarantee commercial conditions that take into account real production costs. They warn of a growing threat to the economic viability of the sector, weakened by climate-related productivity losses and falling export revenues.

Machine-translated from French