Page 13 - Ecuador's Banana Sector under Climate Change

Preface and acknowledgements
Ecuador’s banana sector is crucial for the national economy, employment and the country trade balance. Both the economic, social and environmental implications of banana value chains challenges present policy choices and trade-offs in Ecuador. Raising productivity of the sector, improving fair distribution of value added among the private actors (workers, farmers and exporters), and enhancing sustainable phytosanitary practices top the Government priorities. On top of this, climate change is raising additional concerns over the long term viability and suitability of banana in Ecuador. The climate change challenge is multifaceted manifested through reduced water availability from declining Andean glaciers, changing rainfall patterns to rising temperatures and consequent potential increasing of disease incidences and or severity.
At the request of the Ecuadorian Government, FAO undertook a technical assistance project providing an assessment of climate change impacts on the banana value chain in support of the Ecuador initiatives towards sustainable and climate-adapted strategies. The sectorial assessment covered both biophysical and socio-economic analyses following an integrated framework devised specifically for sector or market level analysis of climate change impacts in agriculture. The integrated assessment framework was applied in other countries and crops (Tea in Kenya and fruit trees in Morocco). The biophysical analysis included: (i) an evaluation of banana suitability under climate change
in Ecuador and elsewhere; (ii) climate change impacts on yields and diseases incidence; (iii) quantifying carbon footprint and GHG emissions associated with banana production, including the stages from transportation to consumption. The socio-economic analysis examined the national social policies to ensure a fairer distribution of returns to stakeholders across the banana value chain, especially with regard to smallholder farmers and banana plantation workers, who play an important role as constituents within Ecuador’s main agricultural industry. The analysis also covered the issue of governance, relating to the banana value chain within Ecuador (labourers, producers, exporters) and beyond (consumers). These studies were carried between September 2012 and December 2013. The findings of these studies were presented at a national multi-stakeholder workshop held in January 2014 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The project was carried out under the overall technical supervision of
Aziz Elbehri, Senior Economist from FAO’s Trade and Markets Division and the field supervision of Mr. Pedro Pablo Pena, FAO representative of Ecuador. In- country and field work coordination was carried out with the active interventions of Mr Jorge Samaniego and Ms. Maria Jose Alvear from the FAO Office in
Quito and by Aicha Dellero, from FAO HQ. For the normative analyses, FAO mobilized a team of FAO and international experts, supported by two national consultants: Mr Gustavo Novillo, and Mr Trossky Maldonado. The successful completion of the sectorial assessment was made possible because of the strong commitment and helpful assistance received from the national partners and
their representatives who exhibited a high degree of enthusiasm and interest in FAO’s work. Special recognition for valuable assistance throughout the project
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