Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Mora was in Miami, Florida last week for the VII International Banana Congress organized by Costa Rica’s Corporación Bananera Nacional (Corbana).

Participants spanned those involved in the entire value chain, from production to sale, of the fruit, and included at least 600 representatives from 40 countries.

Bananas were one of the products that launched Costa Rican into the realm of International trade with its first shipment of fresh fruit set sail for New York in February 1880, said Mora.

Since then, the banana sector has gradually evolved and today Costa Rica is a global leader for volume, quality and productivity.

“In 2016, our banana sector exported 121 million boxes of fruit. That represents 38.6 percent of the national agricultural production; directly and indirectly employing almost 12 percent of the economically active population – especially in rural areas that are most vulnerable and have few job options; and is responsible for 36.7 percent of the total value of agricultural exports, a figure that in 2016 amounted to US$998 million,” said Mora at the congress.

One of the challenges faced by banana industry in Costa Rica is that in 2019, the Banana Stabilization Mechanism will expire thus eliminating the tariff preference that Costa Rican bananas have in the European market, the most desirable and lucrative world market.

According to Mora, the biggest challenge for this and other agricultural sectors, is adapting to necessary changes including automation and robotics in production and marketing, and to mobile and digital technologies. Electronic commerce and changes in the business model are forcing such changes, as are the need to deal with biotechnology and resistance of different banana varieties, as well as adapting to climate change.