Case: Policy coherence in general

28-11-2011 The Big Banana Movie

Multinational corporations in developing countries can make or break the development and sustainability in the area. In the EU, politicians, decision-makers and consumers can influence the way corporations behave in developing countries. This was one of the conclusions drawn from the public screening of the documentary The Big Banana Movie, on October 19th at the European Parliament, organised by the Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFN). The film was banned in Cameroon on the 26th of April this year.

The documentary shows the exploitation of Cameroonian workers on the PHP Banana Plantation in Njombé, Cameroon, which is owned by the French Compagnie Fruitère. The workers conditions are extremely poor: the workers have to make long hours, earn far less than the minimum wage and are not protected against pesticides that are being used on the plantation. Workers who get sick due to the exposure of the toxins are not being looked after, dont get compensated and lose the little income they had, resulting in increased poverty, hunger and illness.

Not only the human resources so to say are being exploited, but also the natural ones. The fertile volcanic soils are being exhausted, fresh water is to a high extent used for irrigation or gets polluted by chemicals used in the growing and processing of the bananas. PHPs constant need to expand to increase its production is being satisfied by taking land from local farmers, the so called land-grabbing. Even though there is plenty of land available, since only 26% of the land is being used, PHP seems to be interested only in the parts of lands close to the road where the local farmers have their land, so they dont have to invest in infrastructure. Moreover, under pressure of the WTO African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries lost their preferential access to the EU market. The preferential access that was granted to the ACP countries under the Lomé agreement was considered to contradict WTO rules and were criticised by North- and Latin-American companies. The Lomé agreement was replaced by the Cotonou agreement, which didnt include the preferential access for ACP countries to the EU market. As a consequence Latin-America gained more access to the European markets and provided Europe with much cheaper bananas. Due to this new competition PHP had to increase their banana production and needed even more land. Also an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and Cameroon was signed in 2009. This meant the opening of the borders and leading to a further increase of export and thus an even further increase of production.

The development that had been taking place in the area of Njombé has been turned backwards since PHP settled on their lands. The wealth of the area is being exported, local businesses are being deprived, local farmers cant compete to the giant corporation that receives subsidies from the EU. The local people are not able to take steps against injustices committed by the corporation, due to corruption of local authorities.

However, as the films director Franck Hameni emphasized, shutting the plantations down, making it go away is also not a desirable option as they do provide jobs for the local people. If they would lose even the little money they make, they would suffer even more than they do now. Rather, to improve the situation, the EU should lay out restrictions for corporations that receive EU subsidies. In that way they can change the corporations behavior in a more fair, sustainable and responsible direction. Next to this, consumers in the EU can also play an important role. MEP Norbert Neuser, who co-hosted the screening, stated that consumers should act: they could spend a bit more money on products from fair and just trade, talk to other consumers to raise awareness and put pressure on politicians to be aware of the impacts of agreements between the EU and developing countries.

Fair Politics is currently preparing a new case study on Corporate Social Responsibility. We are convinced that the EU can only make development work, if the development objectives are not undermined by any other policy area. Subsidizing corporations that act socially irresponsibly seems to be plain incoherent with the development objectives the EU committed itself to, with the main objective to eradicate poverty (Lisbon Treaty, Art. 208).

Click here to read more about the Big Banana Movie!