Logistics crisis and disease management concentrate attention at the Banano & Cacao Summit

The event to more than 400 entrepreneurs and 2,000 actors in the productive sector of both products that until August exported more than $ 2.8 billion

The mitigation of diseases that impact on the production levels of bananas and cocoa, two of the stars of the non -oil exportable basket of Ecuador, and the current global logistics crisis that impacts maritime transport, are the topics that most attention to theFirst Banano & Cacao 2021 Summit,That began on Tuesday night, at the Guayaquil Convention Center, and that brings together more than 50 companies at its commercial fair.

The event, organized by Expoplaza, has the support and endorsement of the Association of Graduates of Zamoranos del Litoral - Ecuador (Ageple), the Association of Graduates of the EARTH (Agearth), as well as the Association of Fine and Aroma Cocoa Producers (Apochafa).

From January to August, cocoa and bananas generated more than$ 2.8 billion in exports, according to figures from the Central Bank of Ecuador. Hence the interest of these sectors to improve productivities, to know the most recent innovations in crop management and how international markets impacted by the logistics crisis move.

This last theme was highlighted by Jorge Marún, Vice President of Aprilfa, who pointed out that the banana sector faces difficulties due to this crisis, however, said that fruit exports continue to grow, as well as those of cocoa that have had good performance.

For its part, Rubén Avendaño, president of Ageple, He described the logistics problem facing the bananas, which has about 220 hectares of crops in the country, such as “a strong dilemma” for the sector, which adds to the concern about a ‘potential arrival’ of the Fusarium Race 4 to Ecuadorian territory, which is already in Peru and Colombia. This disease has no known cure and attacks banana plantations and other musaceae.

In this regard,Eddie Ochoa, member of the Agearth Board of Directors, he indicated that with the complicated panorama in the international context, with the shipping crisis, the rise in inputs and theFusariumRace 4, the agricultural sector should seek to be more efficient and sustainable environmentally.

"HeFusariumIt is just around the corner, practically on the border, it is a fungus that really threatens the entire country, the fourth part of the population depends on this activity. On the issue of cocoa, like every year, prices go below instead of climbing, ”Ochoa identified as the main problems of these products.

Problems sought to raise solutions in the Summit Conference Program, which include 16 exhibitors' talks from 14 countries, according to Ricardo Baquerizo, president of Expoplaza.

One of the conferences, on Wednesday, was dictated byVictor Quimí, whoHe tried about plant extracts used to mitigate diseases in bananas and cocoa crops. The expert presented the results of two products, an organic bio -stimulant and a biofungicide, the first registered in Ecuador with organic certification.

The first demonstrated high effectiveness in the control of diseases in banana crops such as BSV, Erwinia and Moko, the latter a disease that, according to chimí, was initially presented in the banana, but now it also affects the banana. "There are small spotlights, but continues to grow," warned the expert, who said that this product also had good results in banana plantations of the Gros Michel variety infested by the Fusarium Race 1, a disease that devastated this variety in the sixties.

Meanwhile, this Thursday from 09:45, Antonio González and Juan Carlos Rojas, of the Agrovid Sas Group, Inia Colombia and Peru, will deal with the situation of the situation of theFusariumRace 4 in those countries.

Meanwhile, in the case of cocoa, the mixture of these two products, according to chimí, gave excellent results against diseases such as the monilla and thePhytophthora, diseases that, according to the expert based on INIAP data, are responsible for losses of up to 70 % of the crops of some cocoa farms.

For its part,Ricardo Baquerizo, President of ExpoplazaHe said that there are more than 400 registered participants for the conferences of the summit that will be until Thursday.

"People come to Congress, they are more than 400 registered, the productive sector, more than 2,000 producers will come and we believe that during these days we will bring together around 4,000 people," said Baquerizo.