Bananas

Last month Health Sec. Francisco Duque urged President Arroyo to issue an executive order banning aerial spraying of fungicides. Four causes were cited in his memo:

MANILA, Philippines – Labor unions representing some 300,000 banana farm workers in various support industries of the Philippine banana industry hit yesterday what they perceived as smear campaign against banana growers in Mindanao who have accused them of non-existing health risk regarding the aerial spaying of banana plantations in their localities.

MANILA, Philippines – A newly formed group has warned that the $720-million Philippine banana industry could collapse if Congress passes a measure banning the practice of aerial fungicide spraying in banana plantations.

It is with great interest that I read Ceres Doyo’s column “Bad Bananas and Collateral Damage.” (Inquirer, 8/13/09) While my affiliation to Davao is limited to the fact that my wife and her two brothers were born in Davao City, my concern is in my sincere belief that somewhere, somehow, there is a better, safer…

THE Department of Agriculture said local fresh bananas may be able to enter the US mainland if the Philippines puts mitigating measures against quarantine pests the USDA has identified.

MANILA, Philippines – The government has lifted the limit of hectarage for banana export plantation, following the recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board.

JAPANESE banana imports are headed for a second straight record gain this year, fueled by fad diets and households looking for cheap food amid the recession.

President Arroyo has lifted the order limiting the Order 807 repealing Letter of Instruction No. 58 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos which had limited the area for plantations of export-quality bananas to 26,250 hectares nationwide.

Online petition launched MANILA, Philippines — “Tens of thousands” of Australians signed a petition opposing their government’s decision to allow the importation of bananas from the Philippines, Australian media reported Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – Technical experts from the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) are backing further and more comprehensive scientific research on the impact of aerial spraying on humans, given that a government-commissioned study has failed to establish conclusive evidence proving that this efficient mode of dispersing fungicide was directly responsible for certain discomforts…

AUSTRALIAN banana growers have taken their protectionist lobby to the skies and censured their national carrier, Qantas Airways, for serving passengers with bananas grown in the Philippines on trans-Tasman flights.

THE Australian government has decided that it is safe to import Cavendish bananas from the Philippines, opening up a market that Filipino growers have sought to enter since 1995.

CARMEN, Cotabato: The Philippines should move quickly to fill in the shortage of fresh bananas in Japan, where the “Banana Morning Diet” has become a huge craze, Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza of Cotabato said Sunday.