31/05/2011 - Press release
On the initiative of IDEADOM (Office de développement de l’agriculture d’Outre-mer), the monthly banana market monitoring commission meeting is to be held on 6 and 7 June in Montpellier. The meeting will bring together the whole range of banana supply chain players: producers from the French West Indies and from Africa or Latin America, importers and ripeners, representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture and the Overseas Regions, ODEADOM representatives and CIRAD researchers.
On 6 June, GF Group, an operator based in the new fruit port in Sète, will be organizing a tour of the new fruit terminal. The commission members will resume their work the following day, in Montpellier, at Agropolis International head office, which will be hosting this working group, the only one of its kind in Europe.
The players in the banana supply chain will be taking a comprehensive look at the issues surrounding the market and international regulations (Doha cycle, bilateral commercial agreements, etc.). The CIRAD Market News Service will be explaining the current economic situation and likely future trends on the European and global banana markets in the light of the liberalization of the European market, while private operators will be debating with the national authorities about current events likely to influence their supply chain in the short and long term.
The CIRAD researchers involved will be explaining the organization's continuing research on banana, from fundamental research (banana genome sequencing) to the design and participatory assessment with producers of less chemical-intensive cropping systems. Within this framework, an update will also be given on current research into controlling the most serious banana disease, black Sigatoka.