Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in order to create contiguous blocks of land with soils suitable for banana
cultivation.Between1935and1945,companyworkersplantednearly4,900
hectares of new banana farms in the area, while abandoning nearly 1,300
hectares following the spread of Panama disease.
18
During the mid-1940s,
long-time company employee John Miceli engaged in protracted nego-
tiations with local landowners in order to acquire ''everything plantable
south of the Aguán River.''
19
In late October 1945, Miceli wrote trium-
phantly that he had succeeded in his mission: ''I told you I would get the
lands on the south side of Aguán River and I got them. I could have got-
ten through much quicker if I would have paid the price they asked and
[was] authorized to pay but I wouldn't. As it is, in spite of the price they
asked at first, I do not believe that all this land has cost the company more
than 25 dollars per acre [$61.75 per hectare].''
20
Miceli managed to piece
togethera2,200-hectareblockof landonthesouthbankoftheAguánthat
he anticipated would take care of the company's land needs for five years.
Local climatic conditions complicated Standard's efforts to expand
rapidly. Because the upper Aguán lies in a rain-shadow created by the
Nombre de Diós mountains that lie to the north, the region has a pro-
nounced dry season. Export banana farms therefore required heavy irri-
gation that both taxed the valley's water resources and elevated produc-
tion costs.
21
For example, in 1946, a Standard Fruit ocial reported that
an 800-hectare block of land could not be planted due to ''insucient
water''; existing farms were already taking all of the available water from
the Aguán River.
22
Company records from that year indicate that install-
ing and operating an overhead irrigation system represented more than
forty percent of the total costs associated with creating a banana farm in
the region.
23
In addition to diverting the flow of the Aguán River for irrigation
needs, Standard Fruit also took advantage of the region's forests. Begin-
ning in the 1940s, the company tried to reduce wind-related losses by
supporting the banana plants withvaras,or wooden stakes. Logging con-
tractors extracted hardwoods, including oak, mahogany, and guaruma,
from the mountains that surrounded Standard Fruit's Coyoles farms.
24
Working in teams, fieldhands dug holes into which they placed a vara
alongside plants bearing heavy bunches. A vara typically lasted four or
five harvests before being replaced, provided that it was not stolen by
workers for firewood. Former Standard Fruit researcher Henry Muery
recalled that his company experimented with bamboo props as early as
1951, but continued to harvestvarasfrom mountain forests and Tiki wood
from marshes on the island of Utila into the 1970s.
25
The company also
