Papayas and Bananas Banned

Papayas and Bananas Banned / Leon Padron Azcuy
Posted on November 13, 2013

HAVANA, Cuba, November 2013, www.cubanet.org – The ban was issued by the
Director of Farmers Markets just a month ago, because the vendors were
making excessive use of chemicals (fordimed and carbide) to advance the
ripening process in fruits, which in turn brought several complaints by
customers who claimed that the uncontrolled use of these chemical
altered the taste and texture of the fruits and was bad for one's health.

Although the intention is to "protect the population," it's
contradictory that this measure has only been applied to farmers
markets, when the practice is a common one among most vendors operating
in almost all points of sale, whether its one belonging to the Ministry
of Agriculture, or a roving vendor.

The prohibition on the sale of bananas and papayas in the farmers
markets in the capital, has only been strictly maintained in the market
at 160th and 51st in La Lisa.

Julio Castillo Martínez, a vendor at one of the stands at the La Lisa
market, and the source of this information, offered ripe bananas and
papaya there, and said, "I was selling around 2,200 pounds of papaya a
week and the same amount of bananas, and never had any customer
complaints," and he added, "the use of flordimed in small quantities
diluted in water has been used for years by all the papaya producers at
the time the fruit is picked and sold. In the case of bananas, I don't
use the chemical because they ripen quickly. This ban has affected my
income."

A truck driver who refused to identify himself, transports these fruits
from the rural village of San Antonio in Mayabeque Province, to 114th
Street in Marianao, where almost all the vendors of agricultural
products get their supplies, said, "The fruits can't be transported ripe
because they get crushed and the measured or exact use of flordimed is
not harmful, it facilitates the sale and has always been used."

At the markets at 19th and B in Vedado and at Elgido in Old Havana,
they've stopped selling papayas and bananas for more than 15 days, but
they've started to offer them again in the last few days. One of the
vendors at the market at 19th and D said, "Now we have to have papers
that support the phytosanitary control of bananas and papayas in order
to have them at our stands, although my products have always been high
quality and no one has ever complained."

The truth is that the absence of these products in the markets can't be
justified by the inefficiency of phytosanitary controls which the State
itself should guarantee, or at least create conditions for others to
guarantee it. And that must necessarily start from the same field the
fruits come from.

Beyond this, the problem lies in the lack of reviews of some
irresponsible sellers who, eager to sell, sprayed the precious products
with chemicals. This nebulous situation is annoying both the serious
sellers, as is the case of Castillo, who have nothing to do with this,
and who are now unable to sell their most popular products — papayas and
bananas — as well as consumers who like these precious fruits and have
to look for them in far off places.

For some, the measure taken by the director of the farmers markets, and
so far maintained at the establishment at 160th and 51stin La Lisa, is
not appropriate. A solution other than prohibition — so abundant on the
island — should be demanded. Especially when we know that papayas and
bananas are the only fruits Cubans can count on year-round. Don't even
talk about canistel, cherimoya, soursop, cashews, mandarins, star
apples, and much less about good quality oranges.

Leon Padron Azcuy
Cubanet, 11 November 2013

Source: "Papayas and Bananas Banned / Leon Padron Azcuy | Translating
Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/papayas-and-bananas-banned-leon-padron-azcuy/