Should the SLBC be blamed for its Present Scenario?

Things may have quieted down a bit between the Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting Company (WIBDECO) and the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC) over the termination of a banana supply contract the latter had with the former, however this does not mean that all is well in the industry.
The SLBC is fighting hard and is going all out to stay alive as it faces what could be certain death come April 1st 2008 because this is the day WIBDECO’s termination notice comes into effect.
The fight the SLBC is putting on is quite understandable, after all more than 50 of its employees will be out of a job, the general manager, and the board of directors as well.
The fight is understandable also in that there are certain issues in this whole affair that WIBDECO has to be questioned on.
I could understand why the affair is a bit difficult to understand by some persons because of the reason given by the SLBC for its current predicament.
The SLBC’s reason is that WIBDECO gave it information regarding the need for banana companies, selling fruit in the United Kingdom, to be FLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organization) certified months after WIBDECO had that information in WIBDECO’s possession.
SLBC stated that WIBDECO had that information in April 2007 but released it to the SLBC in October of the same year. SLBC further contends that by the time they applied to be certified, which was November 30, 2007 any move by WIBDECO (UK) to deal with a FLO certified Banana Company would put the SLBC at a disadvantage. The SLBC, to its credit, did inform WIBDECO of its pending application with Fairtrade for certification and asked WIBDECO to continue doing business with it up until the time it becomes certified. SLBC was more than confident that its application would have been approved by Fairtrade Labeling Organizations (FLO) International of Germany.
WIBDECO made it clear to the SLBC that should the two of them continue doing business for the rest of this year, the banana industry would be put in jeopardy because the SLBC was not Fairtrade certified.
Fairtrade Labeling Organizations (FLO) International is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder association involving 23 member organizations, traders and external experts. The organization develops and reviews Fairtrade Standards and provides support to Fairtrade Certified Producers by assisting them in gaining and maintaining Fairtrade Certification and capitalizing on market opportunities.
Certification is done by an independent international certification company, FLO-CERT GMBH.
FLO-CERT GMBH is responsible for the inspection and certification of producer organizations and traders against the Fairtrade Standards. The independence of the inspections ensures that the Fairtrade Minimum Price reaches the producers and that the Fairtrade Certification Mark is only used on products coming from Fairtrade Certified Producers.
In other words the entire banana production chain must be certified by FLO for bananas to be sold in the United Kingdom and get top price. The weak link in this chain was the SLBC, not the farmers because the farmers are fair-trade certified, SLBC is not.
To many people this is the problem. Whereas banana farmers could sell their fruit to a Fairtrade Certified banana company/producer, and there is only one currently on the island and it is WINFA, SLBC cannot. What all this boils down to is that banana farmers will continue to survive without the SLBC. The SLBC is now facing certain death because of its FLO certification status; this means that even though farmers bring their fruit to the SLBC the fruit will remain with the SLBC because WIBDECO will not accept them. For WIBDECO to accept the fruit SLBC must be FLO certified.

SLBC now is trying to move heaven and earth to stay in business. One could even ask the question: How is it that the SLBC became aware of the need to be Fairtrade certified only after it received a document from WIBDECO in October of 2007 saying such?
The SLBC, in many peoples’ view, should have been aware of the FLO certification issue at the same time as WIBDECO or even before. The argument is that the bananas the SLBC handles are exported to one country in Europe, which is the United Kingdom. I will stick my neck out and say the United Kingdom is the only importer of St. Lucian bananas, of a significant scale, in the world. Therefore it stands to reason that whatever goes on in the banana market in the United Kingdom should be SLBC business. Simply put, if there is no market in the United Kingdom for our bananas today we do not have a banana industry in St. Lucia. And the SLBC, as the largest banana company in St. Lucia, which I think makes more money in the industry than the other banana companies here, should have had its fingers on the pulse of the banana movements in the United Kingdom. This is the reason why many people find it more than passing strange that the SLBC blames WIBDECO for its present predicament.
Could it possibly be that the SLBC, meaning its Board of Directors and other top brass in that organization, fell asleep on the job?
If so be the case, and this is not saying this is the case just pointing out that such a possibility could exist, should not the Board of Directors and the other top brass of the SLBC be the ones to be held accountable for the present situation the SLBC finds itself in?
One could even go further and say they were caught with their pants down and the fight they are out there conducting is simply to cover up their embarrassment. They now want to throw even the kitchen sink at WIBDECO. And with the Civil Service Association at their side flexing its powerful trade union muscles the SLBC may in the end come out saving some face.
But wait. To all who share the above views I say wait a minute. Take a breath, a deep one because the above is only a one sided view of the scenario between the two banana companies.
Let me point out that the SLBC is responsible only for the production side of the banana business. WIBDECO is responsible for the marketing side of the business, hence the reason for their presence in the United Kingdom. There is no need for the SLBC to have a presence in the United Kingdom. The SLBC does not have a presence in the United Kingdom. Anything happening to our bananas in the United Kingdom is the business of WIBDECO.
WIBDECO has a duty to inform the SLBC of any changes in the banana business from the United Kingdom end. Therefore for them to have information about the certification issue in April 2007 but decided to pass on that information to the SLBC in October of 2007 smacks of something sinister and appears to me to have nothing to do with the certification issue that is now the top news item in the country.
To underscore the aforementioned let me point out that WIBDECO has yet to issue notices of termination to banana companies that are not yet certified. At the time of writing only the SLBC had received a notice of termination of its banana supplies to WIBDECO.
Last week I pointed out that banana companies in Dominica and St. Vincent along with the SLBC and TQFC in St. Lucia all have their certificates for FLO certification pending before the main FLO body in Germany. Why the termination notice only to the SLBC?
This definitely is not over yet.