Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
transformation of the economic, political and social landscape of the Latin Ameri-
can region (Bucheli
2006
).
Banana growing is economically significant in many banana exporting countries
because it is very labour intensive. The range of tasks performed include digging
planting holes, hand planting, broadcasting fertilisers, deleafing, desuckering, cov-
ering bunches, pesticide application, harvest, dehanding fruit, sorting, and packing.
In Honduras and Costa Rica, banana plantations employ 5-10 % of the population.
Bananas also deliver a relatively quick return on effort and investment, providing
a regular income year round. The crop recovers quickly from hurricanes and other
natural disasters, in many ways making it an ideal crop.
Much criticism has been levelled at export banana plantations over the years
regarding their environmental credentials and poor social conditions. Certainly,
hundreds of thousands of hectares of rich and diverse tropical ecosystems have
been transformed into banana plantation monocultures over the last 100 years or so.
However, on the positive side, development of these regions allowed settlement in
areas that were previously inaccessible.
Despite criticisms, progress is being made to improve the sustainability of ex-
port banana production, albeit not quick enough for some. For the past 20 years,
organizations, including the Rainforest Alliance, have been working with banana
producers to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by trans-
forming land-use and business practices, and consumer behaviour. For instance,
Chiquita has all their banana crops certified by the Rainforest Alliance. Also, since
the year 2000, there has been rapid growth of organic exports from 30,000 t to
nearly 400,000 t in 2010 (Dawson
2012
). However, market penetration for organic
bananas is still comparatively small, representing only 2.5-3.0 % of total banana
imports in 2010. Fairtrade International is a group of 25 organizations working to
secure a better deal for producers. Growers producing Fairtrade bananas receive a
minimum price to cover the cost of sustainable production and a premium to invest
in projects in their communities. In 2010, there were nearly 26,000 ha of bananas
under Fairtrade cultivation.
The overseas export markets have demanding requirements that greatly influ-
ence cultivation methods used by banana growers (Figs.
8.11
and
8.12
). Plantations
strive to produce blemish-free fruit with quality (fruit diameter, or grade, and length)
meeting retail specifications. They also strive to protect fruit from mechanical dam-
age during growing, harvesting and transport to the packing shed (Fig.
8.14
). This
includes padding inserted between hands of fruit on the bunch during early fruit
development and plastic between the 2 whorls of a hand (Fig.
8.13
), and bunch
covering. As well, shoulder padding is worn by workers carrying bunches to the
cableways. Export markets are up to 3½ weeks away so fruit needs to stay green
(remain preclimacteric) to allow uniform ripening with ethylene gas at the final
destination. A method known as age-grade control is used on the plantation to judge
those bunches which are optimal for both fruit size and greenlife which is related to
bunch age. Additionally, bunches are monitored in the packing shed by examining
the pulp colour of indicator fruit fingers to ensure they have sufficient greenlife.
Bananas rejected for export amount to 15-20 % of the crop and contribute to local
food supplies.
