Bananas: The True Story

Bananas grow best in hot, tropical climates; they are grown in India, China, Africa, and Central and South America. Over 500 different types of bananas are grown in these different regions. The image below shows and names just 19 of the 500 different types of bananas.

The most popular type of banana that is found in grocery stores in North America is the Cavendish, which is a dessert banana.

Originally bananas were found in Southeast Asia, mainly in India around 8000 to 5000 BC. Then the bananas were brought west. This fruit is thought to be the worlds first cultivated fruit.

In 2016, India produced about 30 million tons of bananas, which is about 26% of all the worlds bananas. They are the biggest banana producers. However, of their banana harvests only 0.1% of them are exports. Most of the bananas in India are sold to the domestic market, so they are not exported out. An example of bananas being sold in a domestic market can be seen in the example above.

Africa as a continent only exports 5.2% of the total exported bananas. In the case of how many of the produced bananas are exported, Africa is similar to India. Most of the countries in Africa produce and distribute bananas to their local markets. However, there are still a few states that actually export the bananas. The bananas that are exported from Africa come from Cameroon, Uganda, and Ghana.

Unlike Central and South America, Africa has a greater variety of bananas produced. In Africa, there are lots of small farms that produce local and exotic varieties of bananas. An example of this is Matoke, which can be seen in the photo below, it is a staple food grown in Uganda.

Of all the countries in Africa, Cameroon exports the most. In 2019, Cameroon exported 1.7% of the total banana exports. After Cameroon comes Ghana, and then Uganda.

Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras produce the most bananas in Central and South America. Brazil is a big banana producer however it is not a big banana exporter. Like India and nations in Africa, most of its banana crops are sold in domestic markets.

Ecuador is the worlds leading banana exporter, in 2019 they exported 22.6% of the total banana exports. Colombia is next exporting 11%, then Costa Rica with 6.8%, Guatemala with 6.4%, and Honduras with 2.1%.

The most common banana produced in Central and South America is the cavendish banana, which is the one that can be found in grocery stores.

Bananas grow on large flowering plants that grow 10-20 feet tall. The plant takes about 9 months to produce a stem and a flower. The flower is then removed and the stem is bagged to protect the bananas, as you can see with the blue bags on the plants in the image below.

About 11 weeks after the plant flowers, the bananas are ready to be harvested. Once bananas are ready, they are harvested every 8-10 days. To ensure the quality of the harvest, a single banana is cut down the middle to have its color and consistency inspected. If that one banana is good, the whole cluster of bananas is removed from the stem and brought to the packing station.

Once at the packing station, the plastic and other padding that is around the bananas is removed. Then they are rinsed and cut into the small bunches that are seen at grocery stores. After another quality check the bananas are soaked for another 20 minutes to get off excess dirt and latex.

Once the second rinse is over the bananas are sorted by size and are given stickers. Bananas are then packed by hand into boxes according to size and weight with each box containing 40 pounds of bananas. The boxes of bananas are then loaded into a refrigerated container to make a 9-11 day trip by boat to the United States. The refrigerated container makes sure the bananas do not ripen before they get there.

After being transported to the United States, the green bananas are ripened, by using the natural gas Ethylene. Bananas are placed in a ripening room for four to five days to allow for ripening to happen. When the bananas are ripened they are then loaded into a truck and sent to the places where consumers can buy them.

The United states is the largest importer of bananas. It is said that the average American eats more than 75 bananas per year, which makes them the most eaten fruit in the United States.

The nations that account for more than 94% of the United States banana imports are: Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Honduras.

Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte control over two-thirds of the world banana export market, with Chiquita and Dole controlling the most.

They all are large America multinational corporations that manage banana preparation along with its distribution. While the corporations themselves were created in the global north, the actual location in which they are producing bananas is in the global south.

These three major banana companies are surrounded by a lot of controversy. The banana industry and these companies have a history of racism, colonialism, sexism, and even human rights abuses.

An example of this is the use of the agrochemical dibromochloropropane (DBCP). In the United States DBCP is considered a human carcinogenic; However, in South America it is used for banana cultivation. Both Dole and Del Monte use DBCP and have faced lawsuits because of workers facing serious health effects due to DBCP.

Additionally, Chiquita has helped fund and work with different terrorist groups in Colombia. They paid over $1.7 million to paramilitary death squads in the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia, which is an organization known for mass killings. On top of that they have also funded FARC guerrillas, another terrorist organization.

Bananas are a monoculture crop, and embedded in the industry is environmental crises. There has been a history of deforestation with sections of rainforests being cut down to give way for banana monocultures. Banana plantations bring about soil depletion and erosion, lots of plastic waste, agrochemicals, destruction of habitats, and more.

As seen in the photo above, agrochemicals are sprayed on bananas from aircrafts. This results in only a small amount of agrochemicals actually being sprayed on bananas, while the rest of it is sprayed on the surrounding areas, workers, other foods, and waterways. This means water supplies are polluted, soils are contaminated, and workers health are at risk.

The production and distribution of bananas, with the many nations it involves, brings up globalization. Without globalization, and even capitalism, this distribution of bananas to nations all around the world would not be possible. Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte are all transnational corporations which were brought about by globalized capitalism. Thus, they would not be here if it was not for both globalization and capitalism.

Another aspect of geography that the banana industry brings up is wold systems theory, specifically the distinction between core and periphery. Countries that export a lot of bananas, are usually considered to be periphery countries. This is in part can be seen in the low wages that the banana corporations pay employees. It is said that workers do not earn a 'living wage' so they can not pay for their basic necessities. While in core countries, like the United States, there is a minimum wage requirement that people have to be paid. These low wages that banana workers receive make it so many workers and the surrounding communities are faced with poverty.