Agriculture Minister Supports Moves Towards Organic Banana Production

Contact: John Emmanuel

Thursday, September 14, 2000 – St. Lucia’s Agriculture Minister, Honourable Cassius Elias, has thrown his support behind efforts at examining the possibility of producing organic bananas on the island. His comments come ahead of a regional workshop to be held here later this month, spearheaded by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau (CAB) International on organic banana production.

According to Minister Elias, "It is one of the market niches we have been looking at for quite some time and we are actively pursuing the possibility of exporting organic bananas to the UK in the near future. This upcoming workshop is part of our search for the expertise to enable our farmers to engage in the organic production of bananas."

The Agriculture Minister says efforts have gotten underway at zoning parcels of land on the West Coast of the island for possible organic banana cultivation. In addition to organic bananas, St. Lucia has been exporting fair-trade bananas to the United Kingdom. Fair-trade bananas are certified fruit that meet with fair-trade regulations, which require fruit to be cultivated in environmentally friendly conditions.

Meantime, Minister Elias says he is excited over a visit of a Cuban company due on island in coming weeks to examine the possibility of producing pharmaceuticals from banana by-products. The visit comes via the direct intervention of St. Lucia’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister the Honourable George Odlum following a recent trip to Cuba.

Said Minister Elias, "I have in my hand a jar of ASCITAN, it’s a dietary supplement in table form that is produced from the banana tree. In Cuba, there is a saying that the tree is more valuable than the fruit, and so we in St. Lucia need to find other uses for the banana. I understand that this same company will be able to produce banana puree and baby food from the fruits. Now I’m negotiating with the Cubans to see whether or not they will be able to bring this technology to St. Lucia so that instead of curtailing on the industry, we can encourage our farmers to plant more bananas, but this time, for processing here."

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