The government of Belize hopes to revive the once-vibrant banana industries. According to the Statistical Institute of Belize, production has declined in recent years. However, in November last year, earnings from bananas were valued at $5.6 million, a rise from $4.6 million in 2022.  The industry has historically been a significant foreign income earner for the country, but exports of bananas and citrus have sharply declined. Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai says that while work is being done to tackle the industries' challenges, it will take some time for them to rebound. 

Banana's biggest problem is the Sigatoka and the high rate of fertilisation required. So, when the price of fertiliser had just increased by 300%, the farmers were unable to fertilise as was needed for the plant, so we had a dip in production and two, because of excess rains, we had Sigatoka, which just got in and did a lot of damage, and you know when you have Sigatoka, you have to de-leaf. When you de-leaf the banana plant and leave only three functioning leaves on it, the fruit harvested from that plant will not make it to the U.S. or the European markets because it ripens on the way, so the fruit has to be disregarded for the export market. It has caused significant problems. We are seeing slight increases over last year's quarter from a report I got, so hopefully, we have made a small loan facility for them to procure the inputs required for the banana sector. We're seeing a marginal increase, but we're hoping that we can control the Sigatoka if the weather permits, and we only have a little rainfall. If fertiliser prices go down, farmers can apply fertiliser as they should.