GROW IT, SHIP IT

Ecuador’s agricultural sector accounts for 8% of GDP and is the country’s largest employer. The sector also represents the majority of non-oil exports, reaching USD1.35 billion in 2019, a 6% increase YoY. But with a 21% increase, the star export product of 2019 was shrimp, the second-largest export after oil. Other major exports include bananas, tuna, flowers, cocoa, wood, and coffee. Ecuador now aims to meet consumer demand in the most sophisticated markets and is advancing under the “Ecuador Premium and Sustainable” strategy. The strategy has five pillars: tackling deforestation, reducing poverty, empowering women in rural areas, quality, and traceability. These five points will allow Ecuador’s farm products to be better known in the world. "The strategy also considers new global trends being adopted by consumers who are more responsible and committed to good agricultural practices,” said Xavier Lazo, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, in an interview with TBY. This chapter also includes an interview with Raúl Villacrés, Executive Director of the Ecuadorian Association of Banana Exporters (AEBE), with whom we discussed the prospects for banana exports, new markets, and how the local sector is creating contingency plans against the fusarium virus that is affecting neighboring Colombia. Despite these potential threats, banana exports experienced an increase of 2% in 2019 and will keep benefiting from Ecuador’s improved port capacity in the future after the start of operations of the Port of Posorja, close to Guayaquil and the Port Bolívar in Machala. Additionally, there are initiatives in Ecuador to advance hyperintense agriculture. One such player in this area is Ricardo Herrera, President of Grupo Visión, the firm behind the ground-breaking project Ciudad de la Alimentación, or Nourishment city, which, in his own words, “seeks to develop new sources of raw materials to support our economy in the future by including small aquaculture and agriculture producers and providing training based on scientific and technological research to achieve significant production in small areas. This initiative intends to identify family-owned sustainable production enterprises as the main suppliers of local and exporting food industries.” Local producers are also looking for new products in high-demand in international markets that can be cultivated and exported, including avocados and berries. In fact, in December 2019 the first export of fresh golden berries from Ecuador to the US took place, which is a trend that is expected to be seen more as the two countries agree on an FTA. However, despite Ecuador’s strong performance in agriculture, some concerns linger. As some figures interviewed for this chapter commented, the sector needs to walk more decisively toward agro-industrialization and digitalization to gain further competitiveness in international markets and counteract the dollar effect. Ecuador’s dollarized exports make them more expensive in consuming markets compared to other agricultural exporters, the currencies of which have devalued against the dollar in recent years.