Help Fair Trade Banana Farmers Affected by Floods in Equador!

The following is a message from Jonathan Rosenthal,
Managing Director, Oké USA:
Dear banana eaters, sellers and concerned persons,
As many of you know, our organic Oké USA fair trade bananas come from El Guabo, a cooperative of 500 family farmers in coastal Ecuador. Since late January, the region has experienced devastating flooding. One co-op member's son was killed, roads and houses were damaged and several farmers have lost all of their plantings.
The Oké USA staff and I are asking you to join us in supporting the farmers of El Guabo by raising $20,000 to buy a Bobcat Excavator that the co-op will use to drain the flooded farms and do preventative maintenance to mitigate the impact of future floods.
All contributions are tax deductible, courtesy of Oké co-owner Red Tomato, a tax-exempt non-profit, and will go directly to fund the purchase of the Bobcat. The Bobcat fund has been seeded by another Oké co-owner, Equal Exchange. We are already more than 10% funded!
Finally, please remember that fair trade is a powerful part of sustainable development, the key to minimizing the impact of natural disasters.
Thank you for your concern, your contributions and your solidarity with the farmers of El Guabo.
-Click here for more info and to make a donation.-

Banana Update

The following is excerpted from a report from one of our major organic banana suppliers, and will provide further information about the banana problem and a more personal look at the lives of the people who grow our food. —Allen Zimmerman

OKé organic fair trade bananas come from small farming cooperatives in Ecuador who own part of OKé USA. Since late January, our farmer partners have experienced devastating flooding caused by heavier than usual seasonal rains. Some farmers have lost all or part of their land due to the flooding. The Zaruma family of 5 brothers, who live entirely off of their production, lost their entire 18.5 acre farm. Some farmers have experienced even more difficult losses including William Vitonera who lost his 14-year-old son in a surging river that changed its course due to the floods. The flooding in Ecuador has been so catastrophic that in early February the President declared a national state of emergency.
Here at OKé, we are trying to help our producer partners in any way we can, including advance payments to the co-op so it can provide emergency credit to its members. The farmer co-ops are also working with additional credit agencies to facilitate replanting of farms. The farmers also want to start lobbying local authorities to improve watershed management and start dredging rivers in order to avoid these problems in the future.
During times like these, it makes me really proud to be a part of an organization with farmer co-owners. Within the conventional banana trade, these disasters often leave farmers without a market, as traditional companies flee to source from different countries.
Our ownership structure is sincerely our most unique quality. This structure is what creates long standing relationship and a culture of commitment whereby we stand by our producer partners even when “inconvenient” difficulties arise that create gaps in our supply chain. We hope that you will do the same and stand by us during this difficult time.
Overview of Damage of Ecuador Flooding
A bird's eye view of loss in Ecuador:
51,300 people affected
3,645 people evacuated
490 experienced property loss
24 provinces affected
4 dead
OKé Farm damage
25 acres of organic farm land
300 acres of conventional farm land
4% decreased production
6-9 month estimate to recover from damages
If you would like to see additional pictures of the Ecuadorian floods,

click here

Visit

our blog

to see pictures of the damage our farmers have incurred.

Banana News

We don’t know all of the market forces that are driving banana prices to unprecedented levels, but they certainly include social unrest in Ecuador and flooding in Peru.

Several weeks ago the conventional price started to climb, until last week when a 40 pound box of conventional bananas actually cost $5.00 more than the organic. Now the organic price is climbing and availability is becoming problematic.

It is becoming harder to find the bananas that we like, the Fair Trade, and we are forced to buy whatever we can get, including bagged and Dole.

Our price has been about $.69 per pound for so long. So long to that. The organic banana price will approach $1.00 per pound by March 10th and we don’t know where it is going.
—Allen Zimmerman