The dessert banana sector was at the center, this Thursday, November 21, 2019, of thematic meetings of the National Observatory on Business Competitiveness (ONCE). This body, created by the Ivorian government with a view to supporting the process of development and revitalization of the Ivorian economy, has undertaken in its mission, in fact, to meet the actors of various sectors on a seasonal basis to seek solutions together. appropriate in relation to the competitiveness of different local economic entities. It is in this context that the meeting took place with the actors of the dessert banana sector.

To listen to the Secretary General of Once, who made an inventory of this sector, serious threats weigh on this sector of activity, in particular on the European market, where it is faced with stiff competition from producers of Central and South American countries. According to Mr. Samassi Youssouf, the liberalization of the market with the abolition of quotas applied in the past has certainly boosted banana production in Côte d'Ivoire. This production has increased tenfold from a maximum of 150,000 tonnes per year until 1998 to 400,000 tonnes today. A good favored by the total liberalization of the market since January 2006.

However, this liberalization is not without consequences. It comes with constraints, including exposure to competition from other international producers, particularly those in Central and South America. This phenomenon is observed on the European Union market, the main drop-off point for dessert bananas produced in Côte d'Ivoire and in the ACP countries primarily oriented towards this market.

But it so happens, specifies Mr Samassi, that with the partnership agreements between economic zones, these exports to the EU market are increasingly exposed to competition from production from the countries of Central America and South which are not only the most important suppliers of the market, but also operators with low production costs. “So, in order to survive and remain a player in the market, we have to review our business processes and take bold initiatives to display the competition that is now imposed on us”. It is to reflect on this threat in order to seek, with the actors of the sector, the appropriate tools for an enriching competitiveness, that ONCE initiated the meeting which took place in a luxury hotel of the place in Abidjan Cocody .

Representing the Minister of Economy and Finance on this occasion, the Deputy Chief of Staff made a very specific point about the situation of the dessert banana sector to situate the audience on the magnitude that the threat could take if nothing is made to stem it. Mr. Bernard Yapo Akpess revealed statistics on the said sector which, he indicated, is no less important speculation for Côte d'Ivoire. The proof, it represents 8% of agricultural GDP and 3% of national GDP. And this, for 9,000 direct jobs, 36,000 indirect jobs, and 170,000 people impacted. This should not be neglected in the face of a kind of unfair competition led by the producing States of Central and South America.

These producers, denounces the Minister's collaborator Adama Coulibaly, have lowered the prices of their productions on the European market, from 176 to 75 euros per ton. A very eloquent revelation as to the reality of the danger that awaits Côte d'Ivoire and its ACP neighbors with regard to the future of the dessert banana sector. Also, Mr. Bernard Akpess hinted at possible ways such as increasing the competitiveness of production made in Côte d'Ivoire, developing the sub-regional market, defining permanent parameters of competitiveness, as well as appropriate tools to sustain the achievements of the sector.