Almost all African countries produce a significant amount of bananas, but only a few actually export them.  Virtually all exports are to the European market.

The main African exporting countries are:

Source:  FAO Banana Statistics 2005 report

Until the end of the 1980s, most African banana plantations were small and family-run. After the establishment of the EU’s 1993 banana regime, preferential access for their imports enabled Cameroon and the Ivory Coast to restructure and expand their banana industries.  The Ivory Coast tripled its exports between 1988 and 2000, whilst exports from Cameroon doubled over the same period.

To increase exports, plantations were developed on a large scale, generally under the control of the multinational companies (Del Monte and Dole in Cameroon, Dole and Chiquita in the Ivory Coast), but also sometimes through the formation of co-operatives. Bananas grown for the export market require growing levels of chemicals to effectively compete on the market, unlike bananas produced for household consumption. As a result, yields are now comparable to those in Latin America, though quality remains variable.

Restructuring has had harsh consequences for some small independent farmers, who have lost their land and have become a reserve of cheap, rotating labour on the plantations, or have diversified into other export crops. In Somalia, further bad climatic conditions and the on-going civil war meant chaos in the banana industry. Exports have now ceased.

Although workers’ wages in Africa are as low as in Latin America, if not lower, production costs remain relatively high. This is mainly due to the lack of adequate infrastructure (road networks, communications and maritime transport), variable quality, and the difficulty for farmers to access loans.

The trade unions in the West African banana industry are quite weak (except in Ghana) or non-existent. In the case of Cameroon, the union present in plantations run by CDC/Del Monte cannot negotiate directly with the company because of local labour laws.

In Cameroon and Ivory Coast experimental programmes have been implemented with EU funding to increase the competitivity of the industry whilst improving environmental practices.
Ghana is an exception - it is the only country in Africa so far to develop and export fair trade bananas successfully onto the European market. The Volta River Estates company has also started to export organic fair trade bananas on a small-scale.

In 2005, Dole started an operation in Ghana, through its subsidiary Compagnie Fruitière. By the end of the year Ghana's exports are therefore expected to be multiplied at least five-fold.

Further Reading

West African Plantations and Companies - a Summary of Research by Banana Link
Banana Link 2003

Read an interview with Simon Adjei-Mensah, Eastern Regional Secretary of GAWU, an agricultural workers union in Ghana