According to evaluations available at the time of going to press, Hurricane Maria, rated category 5, completely devastated Guadeloupe’s banana stock. Martinique, though slightly further from the path of the eye of the cyclone, was not spared by this climate phenomenon exhibiting power not seen since Hugo, which hit the island thirty years earlier. Losses are estimated at 70 %, with plantations from the north of the island completely wiped out, and those in the south hit to varying degrees. Overall, Maria reportedly destroyed approximately 200 000 t of the 250 00 to 260 000 t that the FWI ships every year to Europe. A state of natural catastrophe was declared, enabling the producers to receive the European aid necessary for reinvestment despite the absence of production. Nonetheless, it will take at least nine or ten months, i.e. summer 2018, before the first fruits are available from replanting. This is a hammer blow to an industry already hit by Storm Matthew in 2016 (40 % of Martinique’s production lost) and facing major fundamental difficulties, in both phytosanitary (black sigatoka control) and social terms. The consequences are also dramatic for companies in mainland France responsible for the transport, handling, ripening and distribution of FWI fruit. Maria also hit the big planted zone in the north-west of the Dominican Republic, already slightly affected by Irma. At least 30 % of the export potential was reportedly lost, and this percentage could be revised upward, since many plantations were flooded for a long period. The Dominican Republic exports approximately 350 000 to 400 000 tonnes of bananas, with 90 % aimed at the EU-28.
Source: CIRAD
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