MAGAP output Controls of Banana Boxes that Have no Contracts

Containers with arround 960 y 1.200 boxes of banana, were retained in the cellars of the marine terminal. Photo: El Telégrafo Newspaper

Several banana exporting companies were unable to export about 180,000 boxes of fruit, because it exceeded the licensed capacity in contracts with producers, said Carlos Velez, coordinator of Zone 5 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP).

A total of 171 containers are held in the cellars of the seaport of Guayaquil. “The problem is that the fruit does not know the source contract and possibly being paid below the official price and that’s not going to allow,” said Velez.

The irregularity was detected with the new control system, online Unibanano, which was implemented in the country’s ports by the MAGAP. The system controls the amount of fruit, live, said Mario Lara, head of the Banana unit of MAGAP.

“We joined the system the number of boxes that passes and we get the weekly quota available per company. If the quota is not mentioned, the system immediately sends an alert and stop the shipment, “said the coach.

According to Velez, this mechanism is more effective than manual controls that previously applied. The system works only for 11 days in Guayaquil have been generated 171 alerts the excess charge, whereas in the other ports, the situation is normal.

(FL)