4th Global Conference of the World Banana Forum Opening Statement

Excellences,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you to the 4th Global Conference of the World Banana Forum - 15 years after the founding conference held here at FAO headquarters in December 2009.

Bananas are among the most produced, traded and consumed fruits globally, with more than 1000 varieties produced worldwide they provide vital nutrients to many populations, especially as they are rich in potassium that is essential for our health and contributes, among others, to regulating blood pressure.

In China, for example, bananas are not only considered as a fruit, but also one of the functional foods, which help to regulate the metabolism due to their potassium content.

Today, we celebrate the diversity of banana varieties across the globe and raise awareness on the importance of conserving and utilizing their genetic diversity.

In particular, I hope that smallholder farmers can benefit from our conference as they are our priority.

Bananas are particularly significant in some of the least developed and low-income food-deficit countries, where they contribute not only to household food security as a staple, but also to job creation and income generation as a cash crop.

For example, even for a middle-income country like Ecuador, bananas are one of the backbones of cash crop economies, and over the past three years the country has faced big challenges as they could not export as easily as before.

Income from growing bananas can account for up to three quarters of the total monthly household income for smallholder farmers and generate over USD 10 billion in export revenues annually, the bulk of which accrues to developing countries.

Among primary crops, bananas rank among the top ten by export value. I believe, however, that bananas are among the top five fruits globally: apples, pears, citrus fruit like oranges, grapes, and bananas.

As bananas grow only in tropical regions their yield is limited, but they have the potential to become the number one fruit in the future if their yield is doubled in developing countries, which are mostly located in tropical regions. We must also ensure good markets and value chains and increase processed products.

Banana producers face many constraints, including high costs of energy and inputs, in particular fertilizer prices, which remain high despite their decrease last year, while prices received by producers have remained low.

Price pressure and low margins are a major concern for producers, as are high interest rates, which reduce their capacity to invest in sustainable production systems.

Another key concern is the spread of diseases, particularly in several countries in Latin America in the past few years. Although it is not limited to Latin America, as most banana growers globally are smallholder farmers and there is not sufficient public research for all the vectors of diseases and viruses.

When I was a scientist, we got virus-free banana plantlets, which can increase yields by 30 to 50 percent. Bananas are also an important investment because if governments assist farmers to develop the virus-free plantlets first, thereafter you can grow in the net house for the elite seedlings programme.

The certified seedling system is very important. And you can develop a mass propagation system for bananas, like the potatoes seed tuber program for higher yield improvement.

For this reason, variety diversification and productivity improvement should be a key strategy to ensure the future of the banana economy, but the acceptance by retailers and consumers of different varieties remains a big challenge.

For me, I say this is not a big challenge because with a bit more investment - like when we open a new type of restaurant to increase market acceptance of a new commodity – it is all about marketing.

For example, take Italy which does not grow coffee, but it has developed an important coffee market based on effective marketing and services.

I encourage the younger generation to start a similar marketing initiative with bananas!

Bananas are more than just the fruit we eat. The banana flower can also be good to eat, but you need to start marketing it, making it “standard”. The same applies for marketing banana leaves, banana roots and banana stems.

On the demand side, high inflation has reduced the purchasing power of consumers, placing bananas under an increasing competition from various tropical fruits.

Other tropical fruits such as durian, rambutan, and dragon fruit are produced in smaller quantities and therefore sell at a higher price to survive. But bananas are already a staple fruit food, so we need to strategize marketing to effectively address the challenges related to market and price fluctuations and identify the most appropriate solutions.

Better market access will require substantial investment of resources, including financial.

We need to turn these challenges into opportunities. That is why I always say, the bigger the problem, the greater the opportunity!

And that is why I always encourage my colleagues here at FAO not to focus on the trade aspect only – because we are not the WTO – but to focus on food and agriculture.

Innovation and policies should help developing countries and consumers to access affordable, highly nutritious foods. That is our goal. This in turn will benefit the farmers, whether family farmers or smallholders they will all benefit from the value chain.

We need to work together to adopt more sustainable and efficient production practices.

Sustainable is just a goal. We need to focus on how to reach that goal. We need a bridge and tools to achieve sustainability. First, we need efficiency, second inclusivity and third resilience.

That is why at FAO we support Members to transform their agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable.

We need to innovate our way of thinking, look at things from a different angle and open ourselves to new ways of doing business and new opportunities.

We have been talking about sustainability for more than 30 years, but we have not changed enough!

The same applies for bananas. Bananas are the same as they were 30 years ago, but the consumers are different, and the innovation is different. Marketing and business models are different. That is what makes bananas different from 30 years ago.

We need to learn the lessons from the classic model of exporting of 200 years ago. Now, we need to look at what developing countries and Indigenous Peoples are doing with bananas. For example, new ways of cooking bananas based on indigenous knowledge.

That is why the World Banana Forum is here, to support Members and facilitate innovation in line with the new trends of consumers, including digital commerce.

It is an inclusive multi-stakeholder platform, and FAO fully supports you.

I hope you will have a fruitful discussion, and I look forward to your new, concrete suggestions that I can take to your leaders and policymakers because we need new policies for investments and for science and innovation.

We need to all work together to achieve our collective objective.

Remember, FAO is your organization. And no matter whether we are dealing with big commodities or small commodities, if we can ensure that that commodity helps the farmers, then it is a good commodity!

Thank you.