Estrategia de certificación Fairtrade para el fortalecimiento del precio de la caja de banano en productores de Machala en el 2022.

Abstract

Ecuador is a country with great agricultural productivity, among the largest banana-producing provinces are the provinces of Los Ríos, El Oro and Guayas. The province of Los Ríos represents 31.81%, followed by El Oro with 26.76% and Guayas with 23.82%, being the province of El Oro one of the privileged ones as it has the highest concentration for the production of bananas, a product that has been characterized for its quality and variety, thus making Ecuador one of the countries with the largest exports. The banana sector is the main agricultural export item in Ecuador and is the livelihood of a large part of the families in the coastal region of Ecuador. In the province of El Oro, the main cultivation sectors are located in the cantons, with more than 20% of agricultural banana production in the hands of small producers. The banana sector has presented different shortcomings around global overpopulation, dependence on transnational trading companies for positioning in international markets; absence of mechanisms to enforce the Banana Law, so that price fixing is the result of political decisions. In practice, agreeing on the price of the fruit box poses a conflict of interest between producers and exporters. In the course of 2020 and 2021, banana producers have suffered economic losses due to the increase in the price of fertilizer products, and the salary value. According to the producers, adding the different items, the minimum support price of the box should be $7.05. In 2020, during the month of February, the price of a box of bananas stood at $7.78, while in 2021 the MAG established the price of a box of bananas at $6.25 dollars.