Agriculture.ph Blog

THE banana industry may be experiencing growth as banana plantations in Mindanao undergo expansion, but farm workers—the new owners of these vast tracts of lands—remain poor despite the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) having been put in place.

Worse, the banana-plantation workers-turned-agrarian-reform beneficiaries (ARBs) may not be able to acquire full ownership of their CARP-awarded lands within their lifetime, a comprehensive study of the banana industry showed.

Unless overall economic arrangements are improved, the banana plantations in the hands of farm workers might not survive, the study stressed.

The study, commissioned by the Development Academy of the Philippines and La Liga Policy Institute, is called “In the hands of farm workers, can banana commercial farms survive?”

It stressed the need for these former farm workers “to develop coping strategies to mitigate serious constraints and threats to their survival as new owners and managers of banana commercial plantations.”

The study, which includes a thorough analysis of the financial status of the various agrarian-reform cooperatives, as well as their members’ ability to cope with the crisis after the land transfer, blamed poor implementation of CARP in commercial farms that allegedly failed to bring about rural development.

If it is of any consolation, the implementation of CARP in banana plantations could be credited for the subsequent expansion of banana plantations in Mindanao. However, the study said it has not alleviated the poverty of the farmers.

“In fact, it may have even worsened the plight of retrenched farm workers,” the study revealed.

The study noted that the implementation of CARP even led to a massive retrenchment of farm workers during the 10-year deferment period offered to landlords and corporations after the program started in 1988, “so as not to undermine the economies of scale” which may prove detrimental to economic growth.

Retrenched farm workers, the study argued, may not be able to benefit from CARP unless the government acts with decisiveness to include them in the list of bona fide ARBs.

Not to be undermined is the virus threat that could wipe out the banana- export industry. So far, big industry players were able to weather the crucial situation and even expanded over the 20-year-implementation of CARP—10 years under a deferment period and 10 years after its subsequent implementation—which made the Philippines the fourth-biggest exporter of Cavendish, the global market of which is estimated at $6.1 billion.

In Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, the expanse of commercial farms has grown from 32,000 hectares in 1999 to 44,000 hectares in 2004, the study cited. Production volume in the two provinces has increased from 1.2 million metric tons (MT) to 1.5 million MT in the same period.

The Philippines, despite being the fourth-biggest exporter of Cavendish, next to Ecuador, Costa Rica and Colombia, dominates the Japan market and has recently penetrated South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

Growth in terms of export, however, remains slow. The Philippines, according to the study, has a share of only 6 percent of the global Cavendish market.

While some farmers who formed cooperatives managed to survive economically as the new owners of banana plantations, those under onerous lease and lease-back contracts and pay-to-own arrangements are in even worse situation, the study revealed, as their land, which has not been fully acquired, becomes a liability rather than an asset.

The study showed that 15,000 to 20,000 farm workers claiming rights to lands under CARP were excluded from the list of supposed bona fide agrarian-reform beneficiaries during the 10-year deferment period from1988 to 1998.

The period was marked with unrest and characterized by social aberrations.  Human-rights violations and violence were observed in commercial farms during the said period, the study noted.

Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Correspondent

Source: Business Mirror