Shared Responsibility in the global banana supply chain, at Fruit Attraction, Madrid
Every year, IFEMA ( “Fair Institution of Madrid”) brings together the fruit and vegetable community by organising the Fruit Attraction in its facilities in Madrid. The event is a major platform and meeting point for fruit and vegetable operators to create solid business relationships and open up new opportunities in new markets.
This year, the event will take place from 4 to 6 October 2022, in person at Recinto Ferial IFEMA Madrid (Avenida del Partenón 5, 28042 Madrid, Spain) as well as online.
The event organised by the LATAM Task Force, under the umbrella of the World Banana Forum and its regional commission of producers, will take place on the first day (4 October 2022) of IFEMA and will last for approx. 3 hours. The exact timing of the event remains to be specified.
Theme: Achieving social, economic, and environmental sustainability for the banana sector while facing ever-increasing pressure
Banana producers and exporters of Latin America seek to become even more sustainable on an ecological, social, and economic level. However, they experience both political and economic pressures hampering this objective. While the EU creates new regulatory hurdles at political level, retailers pose challenges at the economic level by refusing to pay a fair price for bananas. Sustainability challenges are further compounded by climate change.
This event offers the opportunity to discuss how to implement the shared responsibility approach where risks and value are distributed along the supply chain, thus allowing farmers to share costs with buyers and be rewarded for their efforts towards more sustainable agricultural practices.
Structure of the event
The table below illustrates the foreseen structure of the event:
The Guilds that will contribute to the event are Augura (Colombia), Asbama (Colombia), APIB (Guatemala), Adobanano (Dominican Republic), Asociación de Productores de México (Mexico), Clúster Bananero de Perú (Peru), AEBE (Ecuador), and Acorbanec (Ecuador). Considering that the event is planned to be in English and not every stakeholder will be able to speak Spanish, it is recommended for all speakers to have a good English-speaking proficiency. Besides that, to have the best representation of the Taskforce, it is recommended to have both organic and non-organic banana production representatives as speakers
To show the strong unity of the eight Guilds contributing to the event and the fact that they all stand behind a common cause, we could envisage branding materials such as (1) roll-ups with all logos to display on-site and on stage (or behind the speakers) and (2) printed handouts of the joint declaration on-site, for people to collect with the names of all Guilds.
Participants
The aim of the event is to invite TBC number of participants participants comprising senior representatives of the biggest producers of banana and plantain from Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Peru, and Mexico), as well as authorities from Latin America and Europe, including policy officers from the Commission and Members of the European Parliament in charge of agricultural policies and trade, Ambassadors, NGOs and retailers.
