Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday said the Council of Agriculture (COA) was to blame for a slump in banana prices, as it failed to curb overproduction this season.
The KMT lawmakers said good weather with copious precipitation and without major storm damage this year meant a bountiful harvest in most fruit producing regions in the nation, which has led to a banana glut.
“The banana glut has brought about the price collapse. Prices have fallen to less than NT$10 per kilogram, which is the production cost for farmers. Wholesalers have even paid NT$5 per kilogram for higher-quality bananas and NT$2 per kilogram for subpar bananas in producing regions,” KMT Legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“As the retail price is less than the cost of producing the bananas, some farmers have not harvested their crops. They have allowed the bananas to ripen and rot on the plant. Farmers have suffered from the price collapse, but the council has not created a policy to deal with situation. It has done nothing about it,” Chang said.
Taiwan’s fruit harvest is year-round, retailers said.
The spring banana crop runs from March to May in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County and the summer banana crop is from June to September in Chiayi County and other parts of the south, while the winter banana crop is from October to February in central Taiwan, they added.
The glut has been driven by high demand and high prices for bananas last year due to major damage by typhoons and other factors that reduced production capacity, retailers said, adding that the shortage meant farmers planted more bananas and other fruits to take advantage of the high prices.
Council statistics showed that the nation’s annual domestic banana consumption averages 280,000 tonnes, but this year’s over-production means that farmers expected to harvest 350,000 tonnes.
Council officials have been negligent for not controlling banana production by limiting land allocation and not setting up a base price for bananas to prevent financial losses for farmers, Chang said.
Bananas last year cost at least NT$50 per kilogram, KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said.
“Council officials have failed to give farmers proper guidance when planting crops and should have better planned for the over-supply. They should also establish a mechanism to adjust for fluctuations in fruit prices,” Chen said.
KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Chang and Chen demanded that the council rescue farmers from their financial dilemma through a four-point plan: Impose controls on seedlings to limit the allocation of land for bananas; ensure farmers register their plantations; improve assistance to farmers to plant other fruits and crops; and set up minimum retail prices for bananas.
They called for Minister of Agriculture Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) to resign over his failure to deal with the banana glut and price collapse, along with other food safety issues over the past few months.
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