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With the banana sector facing a “life or death” situation over the past decade, the Vice Chairman of the House Agriculture-Food Committee on Sunday told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is also the Secretary of Agriculture, to impose zero tariffs on Philippine bananas. asked to proceed. in Japan.
In a statement, Albay MP Joey Sarte Salceda warned of a “decade of life or death” for the country’s banana sector, where disease, global competition, investor flight and climate change could threaten the economy. It says it threatens the viability of the country’s second largest agriculture sector. write out.
“If the sector is not addressed, it will lose its dominance over bananas in Asia by 2030. Climate change and disease are threats to the survival of this sector. ‘s relatively high tariffs, high input costs and competition from other players are killing the sector by a slow but steady stranglehold,” he said.
Salceda said the most significant change under President Marcos’ control is the promotion of zero tariffs on Philippine bananas in Japan, a key market for Philippine banana exports and a key ally of the country. said.
“There is only one most important and urgent task for the domestic banana sector in the Philippines: zero tariffs on Philippine bananas in our strategic partner Japan,” he added.
On Sunday (October 23), BusinessMirror reported on a bitter struggle in the local banana sector and a campaign to secure concessional tariffs from Japan.
Salceda said Japan has already cut tariffs on Mexico, Peru, Cambodia and Laos to zero.
Salceda added that Laos and Cambodia have already become new sources of banana exports after Philippine farmers were “piraced” at these farms.
On the other hand, Vietnam’s tariff is currently 8% and will be zero by 2028. The country’s effective tariff rate on bananas remains at 8-13%.
there is ” [fewer] A typhoon of all these competitors. And these countries are less important than the Philippines as geopolitical partners for Japan. Therefore, both morally and geopolitically, I believe we can strongly advocate zero tariffs on Philippine bananas in Japan. I urge his PBBM to make this a top priority in its discussions with the Japanese government,” he added.
Lawmakers said agricultural exports to the Philippines were also “a lifeline between current currency and balance of payments issues.”
Before the pandemic, the Philippines exported about $2 billion worth of bananas, he noted. By 2021, he added, it would be down to just over $1 billion.
biological problem
Meanwhile, Salceda said Fusarium wilt, also known as Panama disease, “could kill the industry in the same way that the disease killed the abaca export sector in Albay. Cause, from the planters, we are just aggregators.”
“Take this as a cautionary tale. Abaca made Albay the richest state in the country in the early 1900s,” he said.
Salceda urged the Department of Agriculture to consider taking the plant industry’s crop pest management division “out of the bureaucratic pit” and turning it into a major division of the DA.
“Pests are already a major threat to the viability of the onion industry. If we don’t get it right, this decade could mean saying goodbye to our local onions forever. It could be the same with bananas,” he added.
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