Manufacturing suspensions in WINERA’s box production plant in Saint Lucia left hundreds of farmers anxious as they fail to meet their export quotas.

Agriculture Minister Alfred Prospere says the government is concerned and has stepped in to address that box shortage.

“[We have decided] to directly purchase banana boxes from the Dominican Republic. Last week Saturday, a batch of 17, 500 boxes left the Dominican Republic, got to Jamaica, hopefully to get here by this week Thursday,” Prospere explained.

The banana farmers export to regional markets like Barbados on a monthly basis. Since the commencement of the box shortage in March, farmers have been unable to supply their markets for 6 weeks now.

One cultivator, Sandy Joseph, notes that the markets are fragile and the inability of farmers to export is damaging to Saint Lucia’s reputation.

“At the end of April, which we were hoping to get boxes, this is when production will dip and you have customers that you've not supplied with bananas for a few weeks now. Are those customers really going to be waiting for us? Barbados is another sensitive market. If we lose the Barbados market, what do we do,” she complained.

To account for another possible shortage, the Minister adds that the government has engaged a second supplier in the United States for the provision of some 12,000 boxes.

“We went further to engage a company in Miami, and we have another 12,000 boxes. Today, as we speak, a container of 12 ,000 boxes will be leaving Miami, hopefully to get into St Lucia by Tuesday or Wednesday. So I'm hoping with that amount of 12 ,000, in addition to the 17 ,000 that was left in Jamaica, by next week, hopefully all goes well, we are expected to have close to 29 ,000 boxes in Saint Lucia,” he explained.

The local supplier, WINERA, is expected to resume its normal operations soon.