Chiquita Plantation Visit

Friday afternoon, we stopped for a visit to a Chiquita Banana plantation visit. Here we were educated about the banana industry as a whole, learned of different Chiquita operations, and were allowed to tour their facilities. The biggest part of the presentation seemed to be Chiquita's effort to inform us of their groundbreaking Nature and Community Project that I mentioned in an earlier blog that is attempting to make banana growing more sustainable while also restoring natural rain forest around the plantation. Chiquita's commitment to corporate responsibility "is about investing in people today, replenishing the land for tomorrow and setting an example for generations to come."

Some of the things I learned about the banana industry and Chiquita's role include, Bananas grow where yearly rainfall is between 78-98 inches per year with temperature averaging 80 degrees F. Across Panama, CR, Honduras, and Guatemala, Chiquita owns approxiamately 37,000 acres of banana plantations. In 2004, Chiquita shipped 136 million boxes of bananas around the world. The banana industry accounts for 10% of workforce in Cr. Banana plants are considered an herb which makes it the largest in the world. It takes 6-8 months for bananas to develope on the stem. Chiquita encourages opportunities for more income to come into the communities through Group Nogua. Chiquita has joined forces with Rainforest Alliance in an attempt to improve environmental sustainability. Other information about packing and shipping were also provided.

Seeing both the packing facility and where the banana plants grow was amazing. The packing facility was not very big, but from watching the workers, I could tell that the proccess was fined tuned to be very efficient. Every worker had their own job on the assembly line and it was all very interesting to see how the finished product is prepared. The process was nothing like I imagined and I am grateful for being able to experience it. As far as the plantation and the rows of banana plants, I was surprised at the complexity of growing bananas. The use of unatural sprays and bags and such, was all kind of surprising. As far as I could see around me, there were banana plants. Overall, the workers I saw seemed happy or at least not unhappy with their work.

It was interesting to me, that by speaking with my professors, I saw a different view of the banana industry. They said they use too also stop at a Dole banana plantation, but have stopped that because of the bad conditions they saw while there. They were quick to point out that Chiquita is one of the best in terms of safety and cleanliness and just by visiting could be considered better than Dole in terms of sustainability.

Picture of the visit are soon to come!!