More on Bananas!!

Conditions within the banana industry are not always beneficial to the countries in which the crop is grown. Banana growing operations are largely owned by foriegn corporations and almost all profit leaves the country in which the crop is grown. Usually the plantation owner is the only person to become wealthy and many of the regular workers are exploited in an effort to maximize profit. These exploitations include being badly paid, having few rights, and being in danger of unjust firings and wage reductions.

Other problems the banana industry creates include by-products of harvesting and processing of bananas as well as other harmful waste. These wastes are oftenn dumped in landfills, rivers, oceans, or even un-regulated dumping sites. The accumulation of banana growth waste often results in the spread of disease, contamination of ground water, and harmful effects on those that live around the areas.

A company that is fighting all these problems in an attemt to turn around the whole banana industry is Chiquita Banana, the 2nd largest banana producer in the world. Through their pilot project, Nature and Community Project, Chiquita is trying to develope new processes that solve or address both the environmental and social issues of growing bananas. Some of the rules and regulations that Chiquita has been certified for with regards to workers include:

-No child labor, forced labor, or discrimination
-Safe working conditions and protection of employees health
-Freedom of association and collective bargaining
-No harsh or disrespective treatment
-48 hour work week max, overtime is voluntary and can be no more than 12 hours per week
-Wages meeting and usually exceeding legal or industry standards
-Workers using pesticides are well trained and protected. They also must shower after useage.

For over 4 years, Chiquita has also set into effect through this program, ways in which their plantations are less harmful and even somewhat beneficial to their environmental surroundings (planting more than 1 million trees). By using less and less pesticides and herbicides while also replanting native plants and tress on the plantation to create a natural rain forest, Chiquita is making advances to make their banana plantaions less harmful and more natural to the original environment. From working with Rainforest Alliance to making their plastic bags biodegradable, Chiquita is working towards sustainability.

While this project is currently present on only one plantation, its early success should lead to expansion to more and more platations that Chiquita owns. Doing so will set industry standards high and Chiquita's competitors will be playing the "catch-up" game. The ideas being implemented in Chiquita's Nature and Community project will hopefully reflect throughout the whole industry sooner rather than later.