©Banana Link

Programme

Tuesday 7 November 2017 (Side event - Upon Invitation)

9:00 – 16:00     (UPON INVITATION)  Multi-stakeholder meeting on Gender Equity in the Banana Industry
Genève room, Centre de Conférence de Varembé (CCV)

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Conference of the World Banana Forum (WBF)

Room 2, International Conference Centre (CICG) 

8:30             Registration of participants

9:10             Inaugural speech by Renwick Rose, Chairperson, Executive Board of the World Banana Forum (WBF)

9:15             Welcome speech by Dominique Kohli, Assistant Director, Federal Department of Economy,
                     Training and Research, Federal Office of Agriculture of Switzerland (FOAG)

9:20             Opening remarks by Deborah Greenfield, Deputy Director-General for Policy,
                     International Labour Organization (ILO)

9:25             Opening Address by Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Office director,
                     FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations Office in Geneva

 

9:30             Conclusions of the multi-stakeholder strategy meeting on Gender Equity in the Banana Industry

 

  SESSION 1 

9:45             Panel discussion: People at work

Opening remarks: Alette van Leur, Director, Sectoral Policies Department, International Labour Organization - ILO 

Moderator: Sue Longley, Secretary General, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations – IUF (Switzerland)

Panellists:

· George Kporye, Corporate Affairs & Administration Manager, Golden Exotics LTD (Ghana)
· Minister Raul Clemente Ledesma Huerta, Minister of Labour, Ecuadorian Government (Ecuador)
· Alette van Leur, Director, Sectoral Policies Department, International Labour Organization - ILO
· Magne Svartbekk, CSR Director, Bama Gruppen AS (Norway)
· Adela Torres, General Secretary, National Trade Union of the Agricultural Industry - SINTRAINAGRO (Colombia)
· Guillaume Tossa, Coordinator of the IUF Regional African Banana Workers Network (Benin)

Topics
- Gender issues
- Labour rights and decent work
- Health and safety

11:20             Break

11:30             Open discussion with all participants

12:00             Looking ahead: priorities and key opportunities for People at work

12:15             Lunch break

 

  SESSION 2 

13:15             Panel discussion: Sustainability: the global perspective and challenges in a changing climate

Opening remarks: Inge van den Bergh, Scientist and ProMusa Coordinator, Bioversity International

Moderator: Jeroen Kroezen, Head of Sustainable Tea, Coffee, Cocoa & Fruit Department, Solidaridad (Netherlands)

Panellists:

· Inge van den Bergh, Scientist and ProMusa Coordinator, Bioversity International
· Gustavo Gandini, Director of Organic Agriculture, Biodiversity and Environment, Ecological Bananas Association of the Northwest Line- BANELINO (Dominican Republic)
· Jan 't Lam, Markets Transformation Global Fruit lead, The Rainforest Alliance (United States)
· Thierry Lescot, Agronomist Researcher, Agricultural Research Centre for International Development - CIRAD (France)
· Alain Normand, Head of Agronomy, R&D, Compagnie Fruitière (France)
· Luis Pocasangre, Director of Research, Professor of Tropical Crops, Earth University (Costa Rica)
· Manfred Pülm, Quality Manager, Greenyard (Germany)

Topics
- Soil and land management
- Pesticide management and use
- Biodiversity conservation 

15:05             Break

15:15             Open discussion with all participants

15:45             Looking ahead: priorities and key opportunities for Sustainability:
                       the global perspective and challenges in a changing climate

16:00             Panel discussion: Compete and collaborate: Global collaboration in the WBF

Opening remarks: George Jaksch, Chair of the board, Biodiversity Partnership Mesoamerica - BPM (Costa Rica)

Moderator: Katie Knaggs, Head of Sustainability, International Procurement and Logistics – IPL (United Kingdom)

Panellists:

· Michelle Bhattacharyya, Coordinator, Global Living Wage Coalition - GLWC (United States)
· Andrew Biles, CEO, Chiquita Brands International (Switzerland)
· George Jaksch, Chair of the board, Biodiversity Partnership Mesoamerica - BPM (Costa Rica)   
· Alexandra Kessler, Project Coordinator, Action Alliance for Sustainable Bananas – ABNB/CSCP (Germany)
· Xavier Roussel, Vice President Marketing and Sustainability, Dole Food Company (United States)
· Adwoa Sakyi, Regional Coordinator for Africa, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations - IUF (Ghana)
· Luis Suarez, Executive Secretary , Fair trade National Coordination of Peru - CNCJ (Peru)

Topics
- Collaborative research
- National collaboration with international platforms
- Public-private collaboration

17:45             Open discussion with all participants

18:15             Looking ahead: priorities and key opportunities for Compete and collaborate:
                       Global collaboration in the WBF

18:30             Close

Reception & networking event offered by the Federal Office of Agriculture of Switzerland - FOAG

Thursday 9 November 2017

Conference of the World Banana Forum (WBF)
Room 2, International Conference Centre (CICG)

  SESSION 3

9:00             Panel discussion: Future of bananas: Managing the risks of Fusarium wilt TR4

Opening remarks: Stewart Lindsay, Team Leader - Banana Production Systems, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (Australia)

Moderator: Luud Clercx, Coordinator, WBF Task Force on TR4 (Netherlands/AgroFair)

Panellists:

· Koronado Apuzen, Executive Director, Farmcoop (Philippines)
· Stewart Lindsay, Team Leader - Banana Production Systems, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (Australia)
· José Madriz, Market and Production Coordinator for bananas, fresh fruits and flowers, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers – CLAC (El Salvador)
· Enrique Uribe, Technical Expert, GLOBAL G.A.P. (Germany)
· Jorge Sandoval, Research Director, National Banana Corporation of Costa Rica - CORBANA (Costa Rica)
· Altus Viljoen, Chairperson of Fusarium research, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
· Morag Webb, Head of Advocacy and Market Access, The Europe-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Liaison Committee - COLEACP (Belgium)

Topics
- Status and impact of TR4
- Need for integrated management and prevention approaches
- Role of stakeholders and the WBF TR4 Task Force

10:55             Break

11:05             FAO Global Programme on TR4
                       Fazil Dusunceli, Agricultural Officer, Plant Production and Protection division, FAO

11:15             Open discussion with all participants

11:45             Looking ahead: priorities and key opportunities for Future of bananas: Managing the
                       risks of Fusarium wilt TR4

12:15             Lunch break

 

  SESSION 4

13:15             Panel discussion: How to achieve a fairer distribution of value?

Opening remarks: Denis Loeillet, Agroeconomist, Market Analyst and Managing editor of the FruiTrop journal, Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, CIRAD/FruiTrop (France)

Moderator: Alistair Smith, International Coordinator, Banana Link (United Kingdom)

Panellists:

· Stephen Antig, Executive Director, Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association - PBGEA (Philippines) 
· Patrick Belser, Senior Economist, International Labour Organization (ILO), ILO Global Wage Report 
· Gilbert Bermudez, Sub-Coordinator, Coordinating Body of Latin American Banana and Agro-Industrial Unions - COLSIBA (Honduras) 
· Fernando Bolaños, CEO, Agroamerica (Guatemala) 
· Wilbert Flinterman, Senior Advisor on Workers' Rights and Trade Union Relations, Fairtrade International (Germany) 
· Edgar Monge, Responsible Sourcing Manager - Americas, TESCO (United Kingdom) 
· Kozel Peters, Coordinator, Windward Islands Farmers' Association - WINFA (Windward Islands)

 

Topics
- Living wages
- Prices and costs of sustainable production
- Future of small farmers in the banana industry

15:05             Break
15:15
             Open discussion with all participants

15:45             Looking ahead: priorities and key opportunities for How to achieve a fairer distribution of value?

16:00             Conclusions and next steps

- WBF priorities, organization, future
- Presentation and adoption of draft Communiqué / Final declaration

18:15             Closing address by Pascal Liu, Senior Economist, Coordinator of the World Banana Forum

Friday 10 November 2017 (side event)

9:30 - 16.30     Engaging stakeholders in combatting Fusarium wilt TR4 
                          Room 2, International Conference Centre (CICG)