Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in the shadows of the plantation
Contrary to what has commonly been assumed, the expansion and
vertical integration of U.S. fruit companies in Honduras did not precipi-
tate a rapid decline in the number of small-scale banana growers. Many
late-nineteenth-century centers of small- and medium-scale production,
including those in the Sula valley and along the coastal plain in Atlán-
tida, persisted into the 1930s. If the data supplied to U.S. consular o
cials
by company o
cials can be trusted, the Tela Railroad Company annually
purchased between 24 and 41 percent of the fruit that it exported from
Honduras between 1921 and 1935.
3
Company purchases climbed from 2.1
million bunches in 1922 to 4.9 million bunches in 1928. Between 1929 and
1933,fruitpurchasesfellby30percent,from4.3millionbunchesto3.0mil-
lion.
4
However, this decline came on the heels of a sharp increase in non-
company exports during the late 1920s such that the Tela Railroad Com-
pany actually purchased more bananas during the early 1930s than they
hadduringtheearly1920s.Also,non-companyfruitsalessubsequentlyre-
boundedto3.7millionbunchesin1935.DataforUnitedFruit'sotherHon-
duran subsidiary, theTruxillo Railroad Company, are much less complete
butsuggestthatsmall-scalegrowercontributionstototalexportsweresig-
nificantly less than they were in the Sula valley.
5
Standard Fruit Company
documents reveal that the Aguan Valley Company purchased a majority
of the fruit that it exported during the first half of the 1920s, including an
impressive76percent(3.4millionbunches)in1920.Theproportionofthe
company's exports supplied by non-company growers declined steadily
during the second half of the decade, bottoming out at a mere 13 per-
cent (0.5 million bunches) in 1930.
6
Non-company bananas represented
less than 5 percent of Standard Fruit's shipments from La Ceiba during
the months (March-May) of peak demand in 1932.
7
However, the com-
pany's purchases increased significantly in the early 1930s even as its own
production dropped sharply; in 1934, non-company growers supplied 33
percent of Standard Fruit's exports.
8
AHondurangovernmentreportdocumented955bananafarmsoper-
ating on the North Coast in 1914. Approximately 61 percent of these farms
consisted of less than 14 hectares of bananas; 10 percent of the farms had
70 or more hectares of bananas.
9
In the department of Cortés, poquiteros
representedalargemajorityofexportbananagrowersaslateas1926.
10
Out
of 179 cultivators recorded on an incomplete 1926 survey, just over half
possessed 5 or fewer hectares of bananas and more than 75 percent grew
10 or less hectares of fruit. Growers in San Pedro Sula somewhat bucked
