The viability of inexpensive supermarket bananas is at risk as climate change and increasing costs endanger banana farmers’ capacity to sustain their operations. Fairtrade advocates have cautioned that the present situation is untenable and cannot persist.

Anna Pierides, the Fairtrade Foundation’s Senior Manager for Responsible Business in the Banana Sector, has called on the UK banana industry to lead the transition towards more sustainable supply chains. Addressing the World Banana Forum in Rome, Italy, Pierides underscored the severe impact of climate change on the sector. She expressed, “Farmers are contending daily with erratic weather patterns, extreme heat, floods, hurricanes, and rising instances of plant diseases. These challenges, along with skyrocketing production costs including fertiliser, pallets, plastic packaging, and labour, are imposing additional strain on already vulnerable livelihoods.”

Pierides cautioned that if farmers globally are not compensated with fair prices, they will be incapable of covering their costs and maintaining their businesses. The forum, coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), convened retailers, importers, producers, exporters, consumer associations, governments, trade unions, and civil society organisations to deliberate on the various challenges confronting the global banana sector. Fairtrade is appealing to the UK to aid in ameliorating the situation. The UK, which imports over a million tonnes of bananas annually, has a significant role to fulfil. Pierides asserted, “Our history of low supermarket prices serves only to undervalue bananas, and this is not sustainable. With escalating costs for banana farmers and other participants along the supply chain, we cannot continue to condone a situation where banana farmers shoulder the cost of our inexpensive fruit.”