BANANA AGRICULTURE
Banana carrier in Uganda
Banana plants are grown from rhizomes, underground stems that grow sideways rather than down and have roots of its own. As the plant grows, shoots or suckers develop around the original stalk. The plant is pruned so that only one or two plants are allowed to develop. These successively replace the plants that have borne fruit and have been cut down. Each rootstock generally produces one plant each season but continues producing plants until it dies.
The original fruit-bearing plant is called the "mother." After harvesting, it is cut down and a plant. called a daughter or ratoon ("follower”), grows from the same roots as the mother. There may be several daughters. Many places harvest the third daughter, plow and replant a new rhizome.
A banana tree can grow 10 feet in four months and bear fruit in as little as six months after planting. Each tree produces only one banana-producing stem. In three or four weeks a single green leaf sprouts from each rootstock. After nine to ten months the stem at the center of the stalk blossoms. Soon the flower bends over and hangs downward. After the petals drop, tiny bananas are revealed. At first the bananas point towards the ground. As they grow they turn upwards.
Banana plants require rich soil, nine to 12 months of sunshine and frequent heavy rains adding up to 80 to 200 inches a year, generally more than can be provided by irrigation. Bananas are either spayed with pesticides or wrapped in plastic for protection from insects. Wrapping the fruit also prevents it from being bruised by leaves in windy conditions. The soil around the bananas must constantly be cleared of weeds and jungle growth.
Many poor villagers like bananas because the trees grow fast and bear fruit quickly, for highest profits. Sometimes banana plants are used as shade for crops like cacao or coffee.
World’s Top Banana Producing Countries
Banana production by nation World’s Top Producers of Bananas (2020): 1) India: 31504000 tonnes; 2) China: 11513000 tonnes; 3) Indonesia: 8182756 tonnes; 4) Brazil: 6637308 tonnes; 5) Ecuador: 6023390 tonnes; 6) Philippines: 5955311 tonnes; 7) Guatemala: 4476680 tonnes; 8) Angola: 4115028 tonnes; 9) Tanzania: 3419436 tonnes; 10) Costa Rica: 2528721 tonnes; 11) Mexico: 2464171 tonnes; 12) Colombia: 2434900 tonnes; 13) Peru: 2314514 tonnes; 14) Vietnam: 2191379 tonnes; 15) Kenya: 1856659 tonnes; 16) Egypt: 1382950 tonnes; 17) Thailand: 1360670 tonnes; 18) Burundi: 1280048 tonnes; 19) Papua New Guinea: 1261605 tonnes; 20) Dominican Republic: 1232039 tonnes:
; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org. A tonne (or metric ton) is a metric unit of mass equivalent to 1,000 kilograms (kgs) or 2,204.6 pounds (lbs). A ton is an imperial unit of mass equivalent to 1,016.047 kg or 2,240 lbs.]
World’s Top Producers (in terms of value) of Bananas (2019): 1) India: Int.$10831416,000 ; 2) China: Int.$4144706,000 ; 3) Indonesia: Int.$2588964,000 ; 4) Brazil: Int.$2422563,000 ; 5) Ecuador: Int.$2341050,000 ; 6) Philippines: Int.$2151206,000 ; 7) Guatemala: Int.$1543837,000 ; 8) Angola: Int.$1435521,000 ; 9) Tanzania: Int.$1211489,000 ; 10) Colombia: Int.$1036352,000 ; 11) Costa Rica: Int.$866720,000 ; 12) Mexico: Int.$791971,000 ; 13) Vietnam: Int.$780263,000 ; 14) Rwanda: Int.$658075,000 ; 15) Kenya: Int.$610119,000 ; 16) Papua New Guinea: Int.$500782,000 ; 17) Egypt: Int.$483359,000 ; 18) Thailand: Int.$461416,000 ; 19) Dominican Republic: Int.$430009,000 ; [An international dollar (Int.$) buys a comparable amount of goods in the cited country that a U.S. dollar would buy in the United States.]
Top Banana Producing Countries in 2008: (Production, $1000; Production, metric tons, FAO): 1) India, 3736184 , 26217000; 2) China, 1146165 , 8042702; 3) Philippines, 1114265 , 8687624; 4) Brazil, 997306 , 6998150; 5) Ecuador, 954980 , 6701146; 6) Indonesia, 818200 , 5741352; 7) United Republic of Tanzania, 498785 , 3500000; 8) Mexico, 307718 , 2159280; 9) Costa Rica, 295993 , 2127000; 10) Colombia, 283253 , 1987603; 11) Burundi, 263643 , 1850000; 12) Thailand, 219533 , 1540476; 13) Guatemala, 216538 , 1569460; 14) Viet Nam, 193101 , 1355000; 15) Egypt, 151410 , 1062453; 16) Bangladesh, 124998 , 877123; 17) Papua New Guinea, 120563 , 940000; 18) Cameroon, 116858 , 820000; 19) Uganda, 87643 , 615000; 20) Malaysia, 85506 , 600000
Banana Harvesting and Processing
Banana street snack Bananas are picked green and gassed to make them yellow. If they weren’t picked green they would spoil by the time they reached the markets. Bananas that are left to ripen on the tree are "full of water and taste bad."
Harvesting takes place about a year after the plants sprout up from the earth. When they are cut the banana stems can weigh between 50 and 125 pounds. In many places harvesting bananas is done by pairs of workers. One person cuts the stalk with a knife-tipped pole and a second person catches the bunches on his back when the fall so the bananas are not bruised and the skin is not damaged. .
After the harvest the entire plant is cut down and a new plants springs up from the root the next year like a tulip. New shoots often spring out of old desiccated plants. The Africans have a proverb used to accept death and immortality goes: "When the plant dies; the shoot grows." One of the main problems with banana farming is what to do plants after they are cut down.
After they are harvested the bananas are carried on a wire trolleys, mule carts, tractor-drawn trailers, or narrow gage railroads to sheds where they are washed in water tanks to minimize bruising, wrapped in plastic, graded and boxed. The stem are dipped into sealing chemicals to prevent insects and other pests from entering. After being processed in the sheds bananas are often carried by narrow-gauge railroads to the seacoast to be loaded on refrigerated ships that keep the bananas green while they are transported abroad. The temperatures on the ships is usually between 53̊F and 58̊F. If the weather outside the ship is cold, the bananas are heated with steam. Upon arrival at their destination, the bananas are ripened in special ripening rooms with temperatures between 62̊F and 68̊F and humidity between 80 and 95 percent and then transported to the stores where they are sold.
Banana Plantations
In many parts of the world, bananas have traditionally been raised on vast plantation, where banana plants spread out in every direction as far as the eye can see. To be profitable the plantations have to access to roads or railroads that carry the bananas to seaports for transportation overseas.
Banana cultivation is a labor intensive industry. Plantations often require hundreds or thousands of workers, who have traditionally been paid very low wages. Many plantations provide housing, water, electricity, schools, churches and electricity for their workers and their families.
Banana plants are planted in rows spaced 8 feet by 4 feet, which allows 1,360 trees per acre. Ditches are built to drain the water from heavy rains. Although banana plants can grow as high as 30 or 40 feet, most plantation owners prefer short plants because they don't blow down in storms and are easier to harvest fruit from.
The plantation have been accused of using child labor and paying their workers a pittance for wages. This is particularly a problem in Ecuador. In some places workers unions are fairly strong. With union contracts, workers often work eight-hour days, receive decent wages, adequate housing and health and safety protections.
Problems with Bananas
Bananas vulnerable to weather and disease. Banana plants blow over easily and can easily be destroyed by hurricanes and other storms. They are also attacked by a wide variety of pests and diseases.
Two serious diseases that threaten bananas are: 1) black sigatoka, a leaf-spotting disease caused by a wind-borne fungus that is usually controlled by aerial spray of pesticides from helicopters, and 2) Panama disease, an infection in the soil that is controlled by growing varieties that are resistant to the disease. Among the other diseases that threaten banana crops are the bunchy-top virus, fusarium wilt and cigar-end rot. The plants are also attacked by weevils and worms.
Black sigatoka is named after an Indonesian valley where it first appeared. It attacks the leaves of the banana plant, inhibiting the plant’s ability to photosynthesize, and can ruin entire crops in a short period of time. The disease has spread throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. Many species are vulnerable to it, particularly the Cavendish. Black sigatoka and other diseases have decimated banana crops in east and west-central Africa, reducing banana yields by up to 50 percent. The disease has become such as problem that fighting it in now accounts for about 30 percent of Chiquita’s costs.
Panama disease wiped out the Gros Michels bananas in the 1940s and 1950s but left the Cavnedish relatively untouched. A new more virulent strain of Panama disease known as Tropical race 4 has emerged that kill Cavnedish bananas as well as many other varieties. No known pesticide can stop it for long. Tropical 4 first showed up in Malaysia and Indonesia and has spread to Australia and southern Africa. As of late 2005 central and western Africa and Latin America had not yet been struck.
Sometimes very strong chemicals are used to combat the various pests that threaten bananas. DBCP, for example, is a powerful pesticide that is used to kill a microscopic worm that would prevent the export of bananas to the United States. Even after DBCP was banned in the United States in 1977 because it was linked to sterility in men at a California chemical plant, companies like Del Monte Fruit, Chiquita Brands and Dole Food continued to use it in 12 developing countries.
The Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique face a health disaster in which one man in two is likely to get prostrate cancer as a result of long-term exposure to the illegal pesticide Chlordecone . Used to kill weevils, the chemical was outlawed on the island in 1993 but was used illegally until 2002. It remains in the soil for more than a century and contaminates ground water.
Banana Technology
Major banana research centers include the African Research Center on Bananas and Plantains (CARBAP) near Njombe in Cameroon, with one of the world’s largest field collections of bananas (more than 400 varieties grown in neat roads); and Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, with largest collection banana varieties in form of seeds and bean-sprout plantlets, stored in capped test tubes.
The Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research (FHIA) is a leading banana breeding center and the source of many promising hybrids such as FHIA-02 and FHIA-25 which can beecooked when green like plantains and eaten like bananas when they are ripe. FHIA-1, also known as Goldfinger, is a disease-resistant sweet banana that may challenge the Cavendish.
Bunch Top virus The goal of banana scientists is to produce pest- and disease-resistant plants that grow well in a variety of conditions and produce fruits that consumers enjoy eating. One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome is to produce crosses between plant that can’t reproduce. This is achieved by uniting many pollen-bearing male flower parts with seed-bearing fruits that can be found on plants that have desired traits that want to be develop.
Banana hybrids are created by collecting as much pollen as possible from a male parent and using that to fertilize flowering female parents. After four or five months fruit are produced and they pressed in a sieve to retrieve the seeds, A ton of fruit may yield only a handful of seeds. These are allowed to germinate naturally. After nine to 18 months the plant matures, ideally with the characteristic you want. Developing a hybrid that makes it to the market place can take decades.
Scientists are working on genetically-engineered bananas that will rot more slowly and developing dwarf hybrids that produce large amounts of fruit for their weigh, are easy to work, and don’t blow over in storms. A variety called Yangambi Km5 shows great promise. It is tolerate to a number of pests and produces large amount of fruit with a creamy sweet flesh and is fertile,, Currently its thin skin make it difficult to peel and is fragile when shipped. It is currently being crossed with thick-skinned varieties to make a tougher when shipped.
Genetically engineered disease-free bananas have been a boon to farmers in Africa.
Banana Producers
Bananas are the No. 1 fruit export in the world. The worldwide trade of bananas is worth $4 billion a year. About 80 million tons of bananas produced around the world. Less than 20 percent is exported, with 15 percent are exported to the United States, Europe and Japan.
Bananas have traditionally been a cash crop for banana companies in Central America, northern South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. In 1954, the price of bananas rose so high it was called "green gold." Today bananas are grown in 123 countries.
India, Ecuador, Brazil and China collectively produce half the world’s banana crop. Ecuador is the only leading producer that is oriented towards producing bananas for the export market. India and Brazil, the world’s leading producers, export very little.
Worldwide more and more countries are raising bananas which means the price is getting lower and lower and smaller producers have a rougher time. Since 1998, worldwide demand has dropped. This has led to overproduction and a further drop in prices.
Banana Companies
refrigeration rooms The "Big Three” banana companies — Chiquita Brands International of Cincinnati, Dole Food Company of Westlake Village California; Del Monte Products of Coral Gables, Florida — control about two thirds of the world banana export market. The Europe giant Fyffes controls much of the banana trade in Europe. All of these companies have long family traditions.
Noboa, whose bananas are sold under the “Bonita” label in the United States, in recent years has grown to become the world’s forth largest banana producer. It dominates the market in Ecuador.
Banana Consumers
Importers: 1) the United States; 2) European Union; 3) Japan
Americans eat an average of 26 pounds of bananas a year. In the 1970s Americans ate an average of 18 pounds of bananas a year. Most bananas and banana products sold in the United States come from South and Central America.
In Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi people eat around 550 pounds of bananas a year. They drink banana juice and beer made from bananas.
World’s Top Banana Exporting Countries
World’s Top Exporters of Bananas (2020): 1) Ecuador: 7039839 tonnes; 2) Costa Rica: 2623502 tonnes; 3) Guatemala: 2513845 tonnes; 4) Colombia: 2034001 tonnes; 5) Philippines: 1865568 tonnes; 6) Belgium: 1006653 tonnes; 7) Netherlands: 879350 tonnes; 8) Panama: 700367 tonnes; 9) United States: 592342 tonnes; 10) Honduras: 558607 tonnes; 11) Mexico: 496223 tonnes; 12) Côte d'Ivoire: 346750 tonnes; 13) Germany: 301383 tonnes; 14) Dominican Republic: 268738 tonnes; 15) Cambodia: 250286 tonnes; 16) India: 212016 tonnes; 17) Peru: 211164 tonnes; 18) Belize: 203249 tonnes; 19) Turkey: 201553 tonnes; 20) Cameroon: 180971 tonnes ; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org]
World’s Top Exporters (in value terms) of Bananas (2020): 1) Ecuador: US$3577047,000; 2) Philippines: US$1607797,000; 3) Costa Rica: US$1080961,000; 4) Colombia: US$913468,000; 5) Guatemala: US$842277,000; 6) Netherlands: US$815937,000; 7) Belgium: US$799999,000; 8) United States: US$427535,000; 9) Cote d’Ivoire: US$266064,000; 10) Honduras: US$252793,000; 11) Mexico: US$249879,000; 12) Germany: US$247682,000; 13) Cameroon: US$173272,000; 14) Dominican Republic: US$165441,000; 15) Vietnam: US$161716,000; 16) Panama: US$151716,000; 17) Peru: US$148425,000; 18) France: US$124573,000; 19) Cambodia: US$117857,000; 20) Turkey: US$100844,000
World’s Top Banana Importing Countries
Chiquita bananas World’s Top Importers of Bananas (2020): 1) United States: 4671407 tonnes; 2) China: 1746915 tonnes; 3) Russia: 1515711 tonnes; 4) Germany: 1323419 tonnes; 5) Netherlands: 1274827 tonnes; 6) Belgium: 1173712 tonnes; 7) Japan: 1067863 tonnes; 8) United Kingdom: 979420 tonnes; 9) Italy: 781844 tonnes; 10) France: 695437 tonnes; 11) Canada: 591907 tonnes; 12) Poland: 558853 tonnes; 13) Argentina: 468048 tonnes; 14) Turkey: 373434 tonnes; 15) South Korea: 351994 tonnes; 16) Ukraine: 325664 tonnes; 17) Spain: 324378 tonnes; 18) Iraq: 314771 tonnes; 19) Algeria: 284497 tonnes; 20) Chile: 246338 tonnes ; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org]
World’s Top Importers (in value terms) of Bananas (2020): 1) United States: US$2549996,000; 2) Belgium: US$1128608,000; 3) Russia: US$1116757,000; 4) Netherlands: US$1025145,000; 5) Germany: US$1009182,000; 6) Japan: US$987048,000; 7) China: US$933105,000; 8) United Kingdom: US$692347,000; 9) France: US$577620,000; 10) Italy: US$510699,000; 11) Canada: US$418660,000; 12) Poland: US$334514,000; 13) South Korea: US$275864,000; 14) Argentina: US$241562,000; 15) Spain: US$204053,000; 16) Ukraine: US$177587,000; 17) Iraq: US$170493,000; 18) Turkey: US$169984,000; 19) Portugal: US$157466,000; 20) Sweden: US$152736,000
World’s Top Plantain Producing Countries
World’s Top Producers of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2020): 1) Uganda: 7401579 tonnes; 2) Democratic Republic of the Congo: 4891990 tonnes; 3) Ghana: 4667999 tonnes; 4) Cameroon: 4526069 tonnes; 5) Philippines: 3100839 tonnes; 6) Nigeria: 3077159 tonnes; 7) Colombia: 2475611 tonnes; 8) Côte d'Ivoire: 1882779 tonnes; 9) Myanmar: 1361419 tonnes; 10) Dominican Republic: 1053143 tonnes; 11) Sri Lanka: 975450 tonnes; 12) Rwanda: 913231 tonnes; 13) Ecuador: 722298 tonnes; 14) Venezuela: 720998 tonnes; 15) Cuba: 594374 tonnes; 16) Tanzania: 579589 tonnes; 17) Guinea: 486594 tonnes; 18) Bolivia: 481093 tonnes; 19) Malawi: 385146 tonnes; 20) Gabon: 345890 tonnes ; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org]
World’s Top Producers (in terms of value) of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2019): 1) Ghana: Int.$1834541,000 ; 2) Democratic Republic of the Congo: Int.$1828604,000 ; 3) Cameroon: Int.$1799699,000 ; 4) Uganda: Int.$1289177,000 ; 5) Nigeria: Int.$1198444,000 ; 6) Philippines: Int.$1170281,000 ; 7) Peru: Int.$858525,000 ; 8) Colombia: Int.$822718,000 ; 9) Côte d'Ivoire: Int.$687592,000 ; 10) Myanmar: Int.$504774,000 ; 11) Dominican Republic: Int.$386880,000 ; 12) Rwanda: Int.$309099,000 ; 13) Venezuela: Int.$282461,000 ; 14) Ecuador: Int.$282190,000 ; 15) Cuba: Int.$265341,000 ; 16) Burundi: Int.$259843,000 ; 17) Tanzania: Int.$218167,000 ; 18) Sri Lanka: Int.$211380,000 ; 19) Guinea: Int.$185650,000 ; [An international dollar (Int.$) buys a comparable amount of goods in the cited country that a U.S. dollar would buy in the United States.]
World’s Top Plantain Exporting Countries
local banana seller World’s Top Exporters of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2020): 1) Myanmar: 343262 tonnes; 2) Guatemala: 329432 tonnes; 3) Ecuador: 225183 tonnes; 4) Colombia: 141029 tonnes; 5) Dominican Republic: 117061 tonnes; 6) Nicaragua: 57572 tonnes; 7) Côte d'Ivoire: 36276 tonnes; 8) Netherlands: 26945 tonnes; 9) United States: 26005 tonnes; 10) Sri Lanka: 19428 tonnes; 11) United Kingdom: 18003 tonnes; 12) Hungary: 11503 tonnes; 13) Mexico: 11377 tonnes; 14) Belgium: 10163 tonnes; 15) Ireland: 8682 tonnes; 16) South Africa: 6743 tonnes; 17) United Arab Emirates: 5466 tonnes; 18) Portugal: 5030 tonnes; 19) Egypt: 4977 tonnes; 20) Greece: 4863 tonnes ; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org]
World’s Top Exporters (in value terms) of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2020): 1) Myanmar: US$326826,000; 2) Guatemala: US$110592,000; 3) Ecuador: US$105374,000; 4) Dominican Republic: US$80626,000; 5) Colombia: US$76870,000; 6) Netherlands: US$26748,000; 7) United States: US$21088,000; 8) United Kingdom: US$19136,000; 9) Nicaragua: US$16119,000; 10) Sri Lanka: US$14143,000; 11) Belgium: US$9135,000; 12) Hungary: US$8677,000; 13) Cote d’Ivoire: US$8569,000; 14) Ireland: US$8403,000; 15) Mexico: US$6280,000; 16) Portugal: US$4871,000; 17) South Africa: US$4617,000; 18) Spain: US$4363,000; 19) Greece: US$3687,000; 20) United Arab Emirates: US$3437,000
World’s Top Plantain Importing Countries
World’s Top Importers of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2020): 1) United States: 405938 tonnes; 2) Saudi Arabia: 189123 tonnes; 3) El Salvador: 76047 tonnes; 4) Netherlands: 56619 tonnes; 5) United Kingdom: 55599 tonnes; 6) Spain: 53999 tonnes; 7) United Arab Emirates: 42580 tonnes; 8) Romania: 42084 tonnes; 9) Qatar: 41237 tonnes; 10) Honduras: 40540 tonnes; 11) Italy: 39268 tonnes; 12) Belgium: 37115 tonnes; 13) France: 34545 tonnes; 14) North Macedonia: 29683 tonnes; 15) Hungary: 26652 tonnes; 16) Canada: 25581 tonnes; 17) Senegal: 19740 tonnes; 18) Chile: 17945 tonnes; 19) Bulgaria: 15713 tonnes; 20) Slovakia: 12359 tonnes ; [Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.), fao.org]
World’s Top Importers (in value terms) of Plantains and Other Banana-Like Crops (2020): 1) United States: US$250032,000; 2) Saudi Arabia: US$127260,000; 3) Netherlands: US$57339,000; 4) Spain: US$41355,000; 5) Qatar: US$37013,000; 6) United Kingdom: US$34186,000; 7) Belgium: US$33962,000; 8) United Arab Emirates: US$30699,000; 9) Romania: US$29755,000; 10) Italy: US$29018,000; 11) France: US$28727,000; 12) Canada: US$19619,000; 13) Hungary: US$19362,000; 14) North Macedonia: US$16711,000; 15) El Salvador: US$12927,000; 16) Germany: US$11222,000; 17) Bulgaria: US$10675,000; 18) Honduras: US$10186,000; 19) Senegal: US$8564,000; 20) Slovakia: US$8319,000
Bananas at Port New Orleans
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Natural History magazine, Discover magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last updated June 2024