Banana shipments from Saint Lucia have infiltrated new markets in Antigua. This comes as the Ministry of Agriculture refocuses on securing current and prospective regional, and international markets in order to ensure the success of Saint Lucia’s banana sector.

Last year, a Saint Lucian delegation led by the agriculture minister, embarked on a quest to secure new and existing banana markets in order to assure the prosperity of Saint Lucia’s banana sector.  Following recent research efforts by Export Saint Lucia on the opportunities for banana exporting throughout the region, the National Fair Trade Organization and Export Saint Lucia have secured a new market in Antigua. The first shipment containing 450 boxes that arrived on the shores of Antigua last week, proved to be a successful venture.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Hon. Alfred Prospere, who was present to witness this momentous occasion, notes that while regional export has occurred between countries such as Antiqua and Barbados, maintaining good quality and quantity of bananas remains critical to the sector’s growth.

“I must say the quality of the fruits that I saw is very encouraging and I’m applauding the farmers for that because what Antigua is saying now is that whilst we may be focusing more on quality for the UK. They are also a lot more focused on quality and so we need now to not view the region as a lower quality type of fruit in terms of its production, but we need to work towards getting a quality of bananas that can not only get to the UK but to other countries in the region.”

Minister Prospere explains that during his visit, he engaged in discussion with an established buyer on the possibility of using Antigua as a distribution hub for surrounding countries in the region. According to the minister, the meeting elicited positive feedback due to the high level of interest shown.

“So the bananas would move from St. Lucia to Antigua but we were hoping that the buyers in Antigua would increase production in terms of quantities. Currently, we are now moving on average 2000-25000 per week but we have asked for the possibility fo that increasing it to 8000. We think the opportunities exist between St. Kitts, Antigua, and St. Martin, so our bananas can now get to that point where they can be placed in a ripening facility. So we want to increase imports of our bananas to Antigua but distribute to St. Kitts, to St. Martin etc.”

As the focus of the Agriculture ministry remains on securing the existing banana export markets and expanding into new regional and international markets, farmers are encouraged to ensure that the quality of bananas they produce remains their highest priority.