August 22 2007, 10:52

Banana Plantations in Ecuador Are the Least Productive

Ecuador, that according to analysts of the weekly "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" is the main supplier of bananas to Ukrainian, Russian and other CIS countries markets, requires urgent modernization and restoration of its plantations. According to portal information FreshPlaza.com, most banana plantations of Ecuador have ages between 16 and 40 years, and their productivity is much lower than that of plantations in Columbia and Costa-Rika.

According to data of Association of Banana Exporters (AEBE), about 150 thou. hectars in Ecuador are occupied by banana plantations, which result in on average 26 thou. ton of fruit per hectar. At the same time, banana producers in Columbia and Costa-Rika got 40 and 46 ton of banana per hectar, respectively. Experts think that producers should intensify banana production in Ecuador to develop further this industry, but they are restrained by the high price that it is necessary to pay for new technologies implementation. So only approximately 15% of plantations use up-to-date technologies of this culture growing.