Source: FAO Banana Statistics 2005 report

Bananas are ideally suited to conditions in the Caribbean.  They are one of the only year-round crops which provides a regular income to small farmers.  They are resilient enough to produce again within a short period after destruction, which is vital in an area which is particularly prone to hurricanes.

Bananas in the Windward Islands and in one area of Jamaica are nearly all produced on small farms in hilly areas, owned and worked by local producers or family businesses. The small plots often lie on steep and difficult terrain, unsuited to other crops. Due to the hilly nature of the islands and land distribution within the islands, plantation production is not possible. Family members often help on the farms that are typically less than five hectares. In some cases, bananas are planted alongside food crops. Windward Islands’ bananas usually look smaller and have more blemishes than ‘dollar’ bananas, but use fewer chemicals and less intensive practices than the Latin American plantations.

In Belize, Surinam, Jamaica and the North of the Dominican Republic, bananas are produced on medium- to large-scale plantations. In the South of the Dominican Republic, there are over a thousand small farmers, many of whom are involved in production for organic and/or fair trade markets.

Bananas provide the major export revenue for many small countries in this region. Banana exports make up a third of all export earnings in the Windward Islands, for instance. This dependence goes back to the early 1950s, when the islands were British colonies. Until then sugar cane had been the main export, but when sugar beet grown in Britain began to compete, the price on the world market fell. The British Government decided to replace sugar with bananas. A British company, Geest, was given a monopoly contract.

Until the late 1980s, Caribbean bananas comprised two-thirds of the British banana market. But although banana consumption in the UK has doubled over the last decade, fewer than one in ten bananas now come from this region.

Windward Island farmers cannot compete in a free market because production and transport costs are 2 to 3 times higher in the Windward Islands than they are in Latin America. Windward Island bananas used to receive preferential treatment on the protected EU market. However with the dismantling of the EU’s banana regime, the Windward Islands have become increasingly exposed to world market prices. The number of farmers involved in exporting bananas to the UK has fallen from around 25,000 to just 5,000 in the last 15 years.

Since 2000, at the initiative of the Windward Islands Farmers' Association (WINFA), production in the islands has been certified Fairtrade, giving greater hope for the survival of both individual banana producers and the islands’ entire economies. By 2006, some 70% of all exports from the four islands were certified Fairtrade. 

The ACP countries and the EU are currently engaged in the process of negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). These will aim to replace the Cotonou Agreement when the current WTO Waiver, which legitimises this trade agreement, expires in December 2007.

The Cotonou Agreement does however make provision for a A Mid-Term Review of the EPA Negotiations , which was published in November 2006. This review aims to measure the progress of the negotiations to date, assess what future work is needed to ensure the EPA negotiations are completed on schedule and ensure that the negotiations are addressing the development concerns of the ACP regions.

In preparation for this Mid-Term Reviw, the Windwards Islands Farmers Association (WINFA) has also undertaken an assessment of the EPA negotiations between CARIFORUM and the EU. This Advocacy Paper on the CARIFORUM-EU EPA Negotiations  is primarily concerned with the likely implications of the EPA for regional agriculture in general and for farmers of the Windward Islands in particular.
   

Further Reading

The Development of the Windward Islands Banana Export Trade: Commercial Opportunity and Colonial Necessity by Peter Clegg in The Society for Caribbean Studies Annual Conference Papers Vol. 1 2000

Websites

Caribbean Banana Exporters Association 

Dominica Banana Producers Ltd.  

Dominica News

WIBDECO

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States  

Links to ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) sites - General Secretariat of the ACP  

CARICOM

Caribbean Council for Europe  

Jamaica

JP Fruit Company