Going Bananas

Week 22: While the rest of the Philippines may not feel the real pressure between China and our country's dispute over a few rocky shoals, the Davao Region where thousand hectares of banana plantation run its fields is already suffering from the consequence of the territorial conflict. The Davao region is the main exporter of top quality grade Cavendish bananas that are sent to neighboring Asian countries and the Middle East. China is always been a big market for Philippine bananas with less sticker quality and quarantine control for several years now. Its is but suspicious that the shift in its quality specifications changed drastically right in the time of the heightening tension between the two countries. China has already rejected several containers of Philippine bananas and were left to rot in its ports. With this, lesser quantity of China intended bananas are exported, given that export diversions is not easy because there is already market supply saturation in other countries.  As a result, bananas that are scheduled to be processed every harvesting week, China intended bananas with its limited demand, are not shipped for export. These are given to the community and dump to the garbage sites. But the City Government of Tagum made good use to the un-exported bananas. These were ripen and distributed to  the schools to let students benefit on its nutritional value for free.