A banana plantation is a commercial agricultural facility found in tropical climates where bananas are grown. [1]
A banana plantation is a commercial agricultural facility found in tropical climates where bananas are grown. [1]
Banana plants may grow with varying degrees of success in diverse climatic conditions, but commercial banana plantations are primarily found in equatorial regions, in banana exporting countries. The four leading banana export countries worldwide are Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia. Ecuador provides more than 33% of global banana exports. In 2004, banana producing countries totaled 130. Production, as well as exports and imports of bananas, are nonetheless concentrated in a few equatorial countries. 75% of total banana production in 2004 was generated in 10 countries. India, Ecuador, Brazil and China produced half of total bananas. Latin American and Caribbean countries led banana production up to the 1980s, and Asian nations took the lead in banana production during the 1990s. African production levels have remained mostly unchanged. [2]
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Banana plantations, as well as growing the fruit, may also package, process, and ship their product directly from the plantation to worldwide markets. Depending on the scope of the operation, a plantation's size may vary from a small family farm operation to a corporate facility encompassing large tracts of land, multiple physical plants, and many employees.
Production-related activities on a plantation may include cultivating and harvesting the fruit, transporting the picked bunches to a packing shed, hanging to ripen in large bunches, dividing large bunches into smaller market-friendly bunches, sorting, labeling, washing, drying, packing, boxing, storing, refrigeration, shipping, and marketing. Depending on the scope of the operation, other activities may include drying, food preparation, tourism, and market research. [1]
Bananas will grow and fruit under poor soil conditions but will be less productive without deep, well-drained soil; forest loam, rocky sand, marl, red laterite, volcanic ash, sandy clay, or even heavy clay. The key element in soil type for successful banana plant growth is good drainage. Alluvial soils of river valleys are ideal for banana growing. Bananas prefer an acid soil. [3]
Physical plants on banana plantations, aside from growing fields, may include facilities or machinery for plant propagation, cultivation, labor housing, fertilization and pest mitigation, harvesting assists such as tractors or overhead cable systems, washing tanks, storage buildings, boxing or bagging, shipping docks, offices, public relations/tourism, and general maintenance.
Cultivation techniques specific to the type of banana produced may dictate the specific physical plant makeup. Much of banana cultivation since the mid-1950s has centered around a single monoculture: The Cavendish banana. The ravages of Panama Disease in that particular cultivar may cause a shift in variety selection, subsequently causing a major change in the physical plant structure of banana plantations. [4]
Banana growing is a significant economic engine in many banana-exporting countries because it is labor-intensive, delivers a relatively quick return on effort and investment, provides a weekly income year round, and the crop recovers quickly from hurricanes and other natural disasters. [5] Banana industry exports worldwide total over 100 million tons [6] in a market which generates over US$5 billion per year [7] and employs millions of workers. [8]
Banana plantations generally follow one of four major agricultural techniques: Intensive farming, [9] sustainable farming, [6] organic farming, [10] and fair trade farming.
An intensive agricultural technique which requires clearing most if not all native vegetation from tracts of land, then densely planting and fertilizing the crop may produce the highest yield of fruit per acre, but it is viewed by environmental scientists as a technique which involves a history of high risk for damage to the local environment, [6] [11] and health risk to the agricultural workers. [12]
As with broader sustainable agriculture, sustainable banana production aims to integrate three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. Producing goods without depleting an ecosystem's natural resources is a key goal of sustainable banana farming. [13] The further goals of farm profitability and prosperous farming communities address free market viability issues which might threaten the viability of the business, rendering the ecological sustainability efforts moot. Because of the lower per-acre crop yield and higher wage cost intrinsic to this type of farming, profitability is addressed by the introduction of a price premium charged for the product at market. Such premiums are readily paid by a segment of the consumer market which places a value on the benefits of sustainable farming. [14]
According to the United Nations, "no information is available regarding how many hectares are currently under conversion or how many producers are planning to convert to organic production methods." [15] However major banana producers in 2008 indicated they were responding to demands for organic bananas with new facilities tailored to that market. [16]
Some consumers are willing to pay a premium price for a product, including bananas, if the means of production are consistent with the philosophies of Fair Trade. The United Nations has published a description of fair trade banana production which states, "for banana producers this means they obtain a price which covers the cost of production and an additional price premium to be invested in social, environmental or quality improvements." [15]
Sand deposition from flood makes soil unsuitable for growing other food crops due to very low nutrient availability, low water holding capacity and poor physical attributes. Thus more time and effort is required to completely restore the land into its original state after the sand deposition. As a result, farmers face difficulties to go back to normalcy and sustain their life. There are various strategies developed so far to revitalize flood degraded soil. However, most of the strategies require higher initial investment and/or take longer time to restore due to which farmers are unable to generate income as before. [17]
Banana can be grown in variety of soil. However, while planting in flood prone area and sand deposited soil, regular management practice should be slightly amended. If sand deposition is above 0.5 m and the area gets inundate for longer duration (more than 2–3 days) during monsoon, then such site should not be considered for banana plantation. These are the necessary things to be considered in each step of banana farming in flood affected area:
I. Variety selection
In flood affected areas, there is always a high chance of banana plant being submerged in flood during monsoon. If it is fully submerged for more than two days, plant can eventually die. Therefore tall variety plants with deep root system should be planted in such areas. In Nepal, people usually grow malbhog variety of banana in the areas which are prone to annual flood but are not inundate for longer than three days. Malbhog variety grows up to the height of 5 m and root goes down to more than 1 m deep into the soil. Production is quiet lower compared to hybrid varieties but fetch good market price because of its taste.
II. Propagation material
In Nepal, banana is propagated exclusively using suckers. Suckers are lateral shoot that develops from the rhizome near the mother plant and are categorically of two types, sword sucker and water sucker. Generally, sword suckers are preferred over water suckers as the plant developed from water suckers are weak and take longer to bear fruits. Sword suckers can be easily distinguished because of its well developed base with narrow sword shaped blades at the early stages. Two to four months old suckers from healthy and high yielding mother plant should be selected for propagation. [18]
III. Planting method
Banana suckers are usually planted in a 0.2 to 0.25 m furrow or pit of size 0.6x0.6x0.6 m3 at a depth of 0.3 m. But in flood affected areas, suckers should be planted in a pit of size more or less equal to 1 m3. The pit is filled with mixture of topsoil and farmyard manure at a 1:1 ratio and sucker is planted at 0.5 to 0.75 m depth depending upon the height of sand above original ground level. A total of 2 x 3 m spacing should be maintained between the plants.
IV. Crop management
Crop management begins with the planting, continues with crop maintenance during growth and development, and ends with crop harvest, storage and distribution. For good harvest, crop management strategy should be contextualized based on the soil type, topography, climate and availability and affordability of inputs.
Certain aboriginal clanships benefited from early development of intensive banana cultivation by expanding previously territorial land views into concepts of cooperative inter-clan trading relationships. [19] [20]
Labor conditions in the banana industry have historically drawn attention both in criticism of the traditionally poor industry working conditions, [21] and more recently in attempts by labor advocacy groups and some producers to improve labor conditions. [22]
Workers on banana plantations in Central America have been exposed to pesticides which have been found to cause various health conditions including sterility. Banana industry advocates maintain that exposure levels were too low to produce health issues, but juries in the United States found Dole Food Company guilty of specific cases of worker sterility related to pesticide exposure in the late 1970s. One successful lawsuit presented evidence that Dole continued to use the pesticide DBCP on banana plantations in Nicaragua after the agent was found by the manufacturer to cause health problems and was banned in California in 1977. The jury found the chemical manufacturer, Dow Chemical, 20% liable and Dole 80% liable because Dow had warned Dole of the dangers of aerial spraying in the presence of workers, yet evidence presented in court indicated Dole continued using the agent in close proximity to workers on its Nicaraguan banana plantations. Financial liability in the case was later stricken because of international jurisdiction issues, however the finding of culpability by the jury was left intact. [23] [24]
Child labor on banana plantations has also historically been a heated labor issue. [25] Labor unions, UNICEF, and others have resisted the use of child labor as young as 8 on banana plantations, and have won concessions in some countries such as Ecuador, which instituted a minimum worker age of 15 years. [26] In Sub-Saharan Africa, banana plantations have had a tradition of utilizing child labor that dates to the 19th century and thrives in modern times. [27]
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel, which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, or hybrids of them.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to agriculture:
The pineapple is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Biological pest control, mixed cropping, and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur, and veterinary drugs. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety.
The United Fruit Company was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 from the merger of the Boston Fruit Company with Minor C. Keith's banana-trading enterprises. It flourished in the early and mid-20th century, and it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and the West Indies. Although it competed with the Standard Fruit Company for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics – such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.
A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop in subsistence agriculture, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family.
Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology, farms, food, forestry, fisheries, fuel, and fiber.
Nicaragua produces coffee, cotton, bananas, sugar and beef cattle.
Banana production in the Caribbean is widespread. Bananas are cultivated by both small farmers and large land holders. The plant is perennial and is planted either in pure stands or in mixed cultivation, such as in Jamaica. Countries where bananas are a main export crop are Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and Colombia.
Agriculture in Lebanon is the third most productive sector in the country after the tertiary and industrial sectors. It contributes 3.1% of GDP and 8 percent of the effective labor force. The sector includes an informal Syrian labor and is dependent on foreign labor for its productivity. Main crops include cereals, fruits and vegetables, olives, grapes, and tobacco, along with sheep and goat herding. Mineral resources are limited and are only exploited for domestic consumption. Lebanon, which has a variety of agricultural lands, from the interior plateau of the Beqaa Valley to the narrow valleys leading downward to the sea, enables farmers to grow both European and tropical crops. Tobacco and figs are grown in the south, citrus fruits and bananas along the coast, olives in the north and around the Shouf Mountains, and fruits and vegetables in the Beqaa Valley. More exotic crops include avocados, grown near Byblos, and hashish. Although the country benefits from favorable farming conditions and diverse microclimates, it relies on food imports, which make up 80% of its consumption.
The cultivation of tobacco usually takes place annually. The tobacco is germinated in cold frames or hotbeds and then transplanted to the field until it matures. It is grown in warm climates with rich, well-drained soil. About 4.2 million hectares of tobacco were under cultivation worldwide in 2000, yielding over seven million tonnes of tobacco.
Banana production in Honduras plays an important role in the economy of Honduras. In 1992, the revenue generated from banana sales amounted to US$287 million and along with the coffee industry accounted for some 50% of exports. Honduras produced 861,000 tons of bananas in 1999. The two corporations, Chiquita Brands International and the Dole Food Company are responsible for most Honduran banana production and exports.
Costa Rican agriculture plays a profound part in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). It makes up about 6.5% of Costa Rica's GDP, and 14% of the labor force. Depending upon location and altitude, many regions differ in agricultural crops and techniques. The main exports include: bananas, pineapples, coffee, sugar, rice, vegetables, tropical fruits, ornamental plants, corn, potatoes and palm oil.
Farming systems in India are strategically utilized, according to the locations where they are most suitable. The farming systems that significantly contribute to the agriculture of India are subsistence farming, organic farming, industrial farming. Regions throughout India differ in types of farming they use; some are based on horticulture, ley farming, agroforestry, and many more. Due to India's geographical location, certain parts experience different climates, thus affecting each region's agricultural productivity differently. India is very dependent on its monsoon cycle for large crop yields. India's agriculture has an extensive background which goes back to at least 9 thousand years. In India, in the alluvial plains of the Indus River in Pakistan, the old cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa experienced an apparent establishment of an organized farming urban culture. That society, known as the Harappan or Indus civilization, flourished until shortly after 4000 BP; it was much more comprehensive than those of Egypt or Babylonia and appeared earlier than analogous societies in northern China. Currently, the country holds the second position in agricultural production in the world. In 2007, agriculture and other industries made up more than 16% of India's GDP. Despite the steady decline in agriculture's contribution to the country's GDP, agriculture is the biggest industry in the country and plays a key role in the socio-economic growth of the country. India is the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, groundnuts, and dozens more. It is also the second biggest harvester of vegetables and fruit, representing 8.6% and 10.9% of overall production, respectively. The major fruits produced by India are mangoes, papayas, sapota, and bananas. India also has the biggest number of livestock in the world, holding 281 million. In 2008, the country housed the second largest number of cattle in the world with 175 million.
Fairtrade bananas was a marketing initiative which focused on increasing the price paid to small banana growers and the wages of agricultural workers. This is not a commercial brand, but a marketing strategy. Fair trade is based on higher prices paid by consumers that allow an equitable distribution of gains from trade over the chain partners.
Banana production in Ecuador is important to the national economy. Ecuador is one of the world's top banana producers, ranked 5th with an annual production of 8 million tonnes as of 2011. The country exports more than 4 million tonnes annually. The crop is mostly grown on private plantations which sell their crop to national and international companies such as Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, and Noboa. and others.
Commercial banana production in the United States is relatively limited in scale and economic impact. While Americans eat 26 pounds (12 kg) of bananas per person per year, the vast majority of the fruit is imported from other countries, chiefly Central and South America, where the US has previously occupied areas containing banana plantations, and controlled the importation of bananas via various fruit companies, such as Dole and Chiquita.
Kamalapur Red Banana is a special variety of Red banana which is exclusively grown in the valley of Kamalapur village and its surrounding areas in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka, India. It is known as a "rich man's fruit" as it is marketed at a higher price compared to other varieties of banana due to greater inputs in farming with fertilizer, water, and workforce. While its skin is red coloured, the pulp is creamish in colour with an enjoyable taste. It has a high calorie value with Vitamin C and B6, which makes it a health food.
Agriculture is the main part of Tanzania's economy. As of 2016, Tanzania had over 44 million hectares of arable land with only 33 percent of this amount in cultivation. Almost 70 percent of the rich population live in rural areas, and almost all of them are involved in the farming sector. Land is a vital asset in ensuring food security, and among the nine main food crops in Tanzania are maize, sorghum, millet, rice, wheat, beans, cassava, potatoes, and bananas. The agricultural industry makes a large contribution to the country's foreign exchange earnings, with more than US$1 billion in earnings from cash crop exports.
The banana industry is an important part of the global industrial agrobusiness. About 15% of the global banana production goes to export and international trade for consumption in Western countries. They are grown on banana plantations primarily in the Americas.
