Bananas Industry (A Reflection)

Of the three industries that I researched (coffee, ecotourism, and bananas), banana growing is definately lagging in terms of becoming sustainable. Though Chiquita seems to be moving in the right direction, it is only doing so on one plantation and as "Cradle to Cradle" says, being less bad isn't good. When Chiquita is considered a revolutionist in the industry for educating its workers on how not to get sick and for planting a million trees, it is clear that the industry as a whole is far from sustainable.

With that in mind, I began to wonder what would be the best way to move the banana industry onto a more sustainable path for the future. As we learned in class, usually market pressures are the most effective way of imposing change. So, from a market standpoint, what can individual consumers do? What can corporations like Chiquita and Dole do?

The answers are not clear cut but for consumers, the key to making banana companies change will be by speaking with their pocket books. If by changing in some way the amount or kind of bananas they buy, consumers will be able to show the big corporations that they will not stand for anything but change towards being more environmentally sustainable. For Chiquita and Dole and the other big corporations that dominate the banana industry, their roles will be, to change their viewpoints on social and environmental issues involving their companies. Chiquita has made small steps towards realizing and beginning change but I would guesse that 99% of the industry does not share the same views. This must change. It is the responsability of the company's decision makers to realize the harmfulness their banana growing is causing and to turn the industry towards sustainable practice.

Bananas are an intregal part of the economy in CR and an important piece of diets all around the world. Both these facts along with the increasing demand are reasons for an urgent change in the banana industry. The industry must change before its harmful effects are to bad to be reversed. My personal opinion is that bananas are very detrimental to the environment and if the industry is not made sustainable then the whole world may pay the price as future of things like global warming near.

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!!

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.

Banana post #2

Bananas is an integral fruit on many diets all around the world, though the majority of people do not realize the production process that the fruit goes through. If everyone was truely informed of the banana industry, would their opinion of the fruit change? Through research, I discovered some interesting and unknown facts about the production of bananas all over the world.

Though 123 countries produce bananas, over 63% of all production is accountable to just 10 countries. America and Europe make up the largest market share for the demand of this crop. Like the demand, the ownership of banana production is also concentrated in these areas with big corporations such as Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, and United Fruit Co. producing all but 13% of bananas. This means that the bananas are different from coffee in that there are very few individual or cooperatives in the banana industry.

Because of this more incorporated way of production, many time there are things that the plantations in places in CR lack or are not sufficient in. Many times, plantations are grown in countries that have less than par labor laws or even a low committment to human rights. In CR, where payment is already scarce, immigrant workers (Nicaraguans) are willing to work for less which decreases job security, and due to the problems stated above, the work conditions are often strenuous and may have other harmful effects, such as the spraying of harmful pesticides and fungicides while workers were in the field or even near their homes.. The type of work conditions on banana plantations found all around the world would not be acceptable in the places where most bananas are actually being sold (U.S. and Europe).

Though unionization and organization by banana plantation workers seems like a feasible answer, attempts have been unsuccessful. The tiny improvements that opotential unions would work for are, to many workers, not worth the chance of being fired or "blacklisted" from employment at other plantations. Due to the lack of a successful organizing of many banana workers, the conditions they work in have not improved, and there seems to be no way around it with the need of a job being so high.

Exports of bananas are continuely growing but the proccessing and packing process of bananas may also be disturbing to consumers. The spraying and gasing of unrippened bananas, in order to make sure they turn from bright green (when picked) to the yellow so many consumers are used too, is done just before the banana is loaded onto ships for delivery to market by sea.

Luckily, like with coffee, bananas are also a Fair Trade product. This means that some bananas are produced using Fair Trade guidlines which include that their production be sustainable. This means no use of pesticides, fungicides, and other dangerous chemicals which benefits workers, citizens of the countries where bananas are produced, and consumers. If the banana industry moved to an all Fair Trade system, the industry would be more efficient and ultimately achieve the goal of sustainable.

Overview of the Banana Industry in CR

Thought to be a native plant of tropical Asia, the banana (platano, banano) is beleived to be first introduced into the Caribbean and eventually made its way to Central America including Costa Rica sometime after the Spanish invasion. Historically, bananas have played a major role in developing the Carribean and Central America. Many of the countries that grow bananas became know as ¨Banana Republics¨ due to the fact that their economies relied so heavily of the production of bananas for export. In CR, bananas still play a significant role in the success of the economy but is now supplemented with such industries as microchips, ecotourism, coffee and other manufacturing companies. As a whole these industries have allowed CR to find success and improved the way of life for Costa Ricans while also aiding in developement.

Bananas are not considered to be the safest line of work. Due to the very heavy use of pesticides, many workers have become ill in the past. Though working towards improvement of the safety for workers, there is still much that needs to be done in order to move the banana industry towards being more efficient.

The banana industry is mostly dominated by a few large corporations. Dole, Chiquita, Fresh Del Monte, and United Fruit Co. all have a large say in how the industry is run and the practices that are used in growing the bananas. Banana exports have always been high and expanding for CR and seems like that trand will continue with thousands of hectares of bananas being planted every year.

Things I hope to be able to understand after more research and visits to banana plantations include, the process of banana production, the work conditions of banana growers and how they can be improved, whether it is possible for the banana industry to be sustainable considering the high use of pesticides, and finally is the banana industry with the growing demand, able to not hinder the preservation of rainforests in CR and other banana producing countries as plantations will need even more land to plant and harvest.