Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
but banana plantations were not closed systems and itinerant bees carried
the infection back and forth across property lines. Also, the rapid and
large-scale movement of planting material in connection with the conver-
siontoPanama-diseaseresistantvarietiesgreatlyincreasedtheprobability
that workers introduced diseased plants to locations where the disease
had not been present. These conditions prompted the fruit companies to
adopt a two-pronged control strategy based on plant inspection and tool
disinfection. However, the Moko control program did not meet with im-
mediate success due largely to the di
culty of disciplining field workers
to perform tasks that were tedious, irritating, and potentially hazardous.
Dynamic pathogens and the companies' desire to increase labor e
-
ciency were not the only forces shaping production processes during the
Cavendish era. Revised quality standards led to the increased use of insec-
ticides, nematicides, and fertilizers. United Fruit first experimented with
fertilizers in the late 1920s as a means of stimulating the growth of young
banana plants in marginal soils. These early studies demonstrated that
banana plants treated with nitrogenous fertilizers yielded more bunches
per acre (500) and higher average bunch weights (60 pounds) than plants
that did not receive fertilizer (357 bunches/acre and 53.5 pounds).
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Fol-
lowing World War II, the fruit companies began importing millions of
pounds of sodium nitrate into Honduras from the United States.
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The
effectoffertilizeruseonyieldswasdramatic.Infact,whenexportvol-
umesaremeasuredbyweightandnotbunchcounts,the''decline''inHon-
duran banana exports from 1929 to 1950 is called into question. Although
UnitedFruit'ssubsidiariesexported3.5millionfewerbunchesin1950than
in 1929, theweight of the 1950 shipments exceeded those of 1929 by 75,000
tons due to large increases in average bunch weights.
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The conversion to Cavendish varieties—planted at much higherden-
sities than Gros Michel—prompted a major increase in fertilizer use. For
example, between 1952 and 1962, Standard Fruit's annual fertilizer use
increased from 50-80 pounds of urea per acre to 270 pounds per acre.
In the 1970s, the company applied around 300 pounds per acre. United
Fruit applied urea at the rate of 1,000 pounds/acre on its densely planted
Valery farms.
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Each farm received four applications per year. Under this
fertilizer regime, average Valery bunch weights ranged from 80 to 100
pounds.
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Yields on Standard Fruit farms followed a similar upward tra-
jectory during this period.
68
United Fruit workers applied fertilizer by
hand and through overhead irrigation systems. Frequently working with-
out gloves, daily contact with urea left many laborers with burns on their
hands and arms.
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