Bananas are symbolic of the wide range of injustices present in international trade today.  These include: 

• unacceptable working and living conditions for many of those who grow and harvest the bananas;
• suppression of independent trade unions;
• environmental devastation caused by toxic chemicals and intensive farming;
• the disproportionate economic and political power of the handful of multinational corporations which supply bananas to the Northern markets.

Bananas link these issues to international trade rules which are increasingly shaping our lives around the world. Bananas have been the subject of one of the most controversial trade disputes  in the World Trade Organisation, that pitted Europe against the United States and some Latin American countries. This dispute continues today.

The banana and plantain family is the fourth most important staple crop in the world. Bananas and plantains are critical for food security in many tropical countries.  World banana production amounts to some 70 million tonnes per year concentrated in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America because of the climatic conditions.

More than 100 countries produce bananas and plantains, but for at least 15 Latin American and Caribbean producer countries, the Cavendish variety of banana is a crucial source of export income.  Several million people depend on the international banana trade for their livelihood.  About 20% of the 70 million tonnes of bananas produced each year enter world trade; in fact, the two biggest banana producing countries, India and Brazil, are hardly involved in the international banana trade at all (although Brazilian production for export has been increasing recently).  The highest consumption per person is in Uganda, where bananas are produced solely for local consumption.

The crop is grown by millions of small-scale farmers in Africa, South Asia and Northern Latin America for household consumption and or/local markets. Most of this production is achieved with few or no external inputs.  However, once a producer grows for the export markets of the industrialised world, high levels of external inputs (for example pesticides) are required to produce unblemished fruit, particularly when bananas are produced in genetically uniform monocultures. In 2005, it is estimated that 97% of bananas traded internationally are of the Cavendish group of varieties.

To see how bananas are grown watch this short film produced by Environment Films: http://www.environmentfilms.org/EF/banana_link.html   

Further Reading

The Banana Chain: The Macro-economics of the Banana Trade, by Adelien van de Kasteele, Food World/International Banana Conference, 1998

Bananas : The 'Green Gold' of the TNCs by Anne-Claire Chambron, published by the UK Food Group, 1999

Value Chain Analysis for Bananas and Tropical Fruits, paper for FAO IGG, Rome,October 2003

The World Banana Economy 1985-2002, FAO, Rome, 2003

Major Developments and Recent Trends in International Banana Marketing Structures, UNCTAD Secretariat, Geneva, November 2003

Banana Companies: A Corporate Responsibility Survey
Stock at Stake/Ethibel, Belgium November 2003

Food, Inc: Corporate Concentration from farm to consumer by Bill Vorley for the UK Food Group, London, 2003. The report details the impact of buyer power on the food chain and its impact on farmers and farm workers, both in the North and the South. It examines the impact of the growing concentration of those companies who trade, process, manufacture and sell agricultural goods and the impact on a range of commodities. The report also points to policies that can ensure more equitable trading relationships and provides options for re-balancing the markets.

Forthcoming Changes in the EU Banana/Sugar Markets: a Menu of Options for an Effective EU Transitional Package – Statistical Appendix, Overseas Development Institute, London, 2004

Update on the Banana Chain, paper written by Adelien van de Kasteele and Myriam vander Stichele for Second International Banana Conference, Brussels, April 2005

Websites

Caribbean Banana Exporters Association

Corporate Watch