The African Regional Commission (ARC) was established under the framework of the World Banana Forum (WBF) following decisions taken at the 22^nd meeting of the Steering Committee in June 2022.

The ARC aims to bring together key actors along the African banana supply chains to coordinate fruitful discussions between the various regional stakeholders and collectively address the specific issues faced by the industry. The importance of such a regional commission has been amplified by the growing debates on the need for shared responsibility as well as forthcoming due diligence legislations in the European Union, which will have direct repercussions on the operations of banana industry actors in the African region.

Objectives

1. As a neutral platform, create the basis for inclusive dialogue and open collaboration in the region, benefitting all banana industry stakeholders from Africa - including governments, producers and exporters, trade unions, civil society, importers and retailers.
2. Enable an environment of information sharing and understanding about regional issues, gathering efforts from World Banana Forum (WBF) members as well as from governments and banana industry stakeholders.
3. Analyze the rapidly evolving regulatory framework for the banana sector, taking into special consideration the European Union’s Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork Strategy; the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as well as the ramifications of unfair trading practices to develop sustainable solutions for the African banana industry.
4. Provide policy support to governments in the region to address sustainability issues and challenges in the sector.
5. Establish a path forward towards corporate sustainability due diligence in the African banana industry, creating a fair distribution of costs along the supply chain and towards sustainable production in the region.
6. Concretely define and identify possible regulation mechanisms to manage the falling prices of bananas which must consider issues such as oversupply and deepening seasonal lows.
7. Address the needs of civil society and unions by enhancing and ensuring decent work for workers of the banana industry.

Activities

In view of the many and varied challenges facing the African banana industry, the ARC held its first webinar, titled Requirements and Responsibilities of Producers, Distributors, Certifiers, Trade Unions and Civil Society regarding Shared Responsibility and Due Diligence in the African Banana Industry, in October 2022. The webinar aimed to identify and address the particular problems and sensibilities of the sector, as well as highlight important steps that are being undertaken by regional and global stakeholders to begin resolving issues.

By coming together and committing to cooperation and dialogue, stakeholders in the African banana industry will be able to better formulate strategies to persevere through these hard times and increase the sustainability of their operations.

All WBF members are welcome to participate in the activities of the Commission, which are coordinated by regional stakeholders. If you are interested to join the ARC, please contact Victor Prada at [email protected] and/or WBF Secretariat at [email protected].