DOMINICA-BANANAS-New twist to banana impasse

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The Dominica Banana Producers Limited (DBPL) Friday said it had filed a court injunction seeking to stop the Windward Island Farmers Association (WINFA) from trading in bananas from the islands.

 

The action is the latest twist in the ongoing impasse between the various banana stakeholders in the sub-region after the Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting Company (WIBDECO) announced earlier this year that it had entered into new sales and purchasing agreements with WINFA.

The move by WIBDECO is also being challenged in the courts by the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC).

 

Attorney for the DBPL, Anthony Astaphan told reporters that the re-amended claimed filed on Thursday also includes the National Fairtrade Organisation (NFTO).


“In view of the arrogance of WINFA and its refusal to cooperate with the DBPL and SLBC, yesterday we filed a re-amended claim (and) this time we included WINFA and the NFTO as defendants.

 

“We have also applied for the injunction to restrain WINFA from trading fairtrade bananas," he added.

 

“The reality is they ought not to be trading bananas at all. Their primary jurisdiction was to advise banana farmers on quality control, standards and so on,” he said, adding that WINFA opted to “hijack the trade chain and eliminate the banana companies from the trade".

"We think that is totally and utterly unacceptable."

 

WIBDECO has defended the decision to enter into the new trading arrangement with WINFA for sale of bananas in Europe.

 

“What WIBDECO has done is to seek to protect the interest of the banana industry from potential attacks by our competitors who could use this to indicate to our customers that we are not fully compliant with the FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisation) regulations,” said the company's communication manager, Freemont Lawrence.

 

Astaphan reiterated a call for the Prime Ministers of Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to intervene in the dispute adding that he was prepared to abide by any decision taken by those leaders.

 

“Whatever decision the Prime Minister decides would be a matter for the public interest and we have no alternative but to go along with it," the attorney said. 

 

The government leaders had originally scheduled a meeting for March but that did not materialise. However, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said this week that the leaders were still seeking an amicable solution to the impasse.

 

CMC/08