M. Holderness
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 174
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Many small-scale banana farmers are facing increasing difficulty in competing in a free market economy. Production and diversification alternatives for such growers have become clear needs. One such possibility is the organic production of bananas, which has attracted considerable interest in both producer and consumer countries. There is a growing interest in organics throughout the Caribbean region, as these are widely seen as having a developing market. As a result of this demand, INIBAP, CAB International, and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) jointly organized an International workshop on the production and marketing of organic bananas produced by smallholder farmers. The workshop was hosted in the Dominican Republic, by kind invitation of the Executive Director, Centro para el Desarrollo Agropecuario y Forestal, Inc. (CEDAF). In order to ensure that all the key issues in the farmer-to-table chain were addressed, a wide range of interest groups were represented at the meeting. Participants included farmers and producer representatives, mainly from the Caribbean and Latin America regions, but also others with relevant experience to share from Africa.