Bananas and the Expectations of High Income Countries

By Gilbert Wermeling

I have loved the food that I have eaten on this program.  As a vegetarian I am very onboard with a large portion of every meal being rice and beans.  By many standards I am not a picky eater, so I have not grown tired of this constant staple.  BUT, every now and again I will splurge and buy myself a little oatmeal and peanut butter.  Truly, my ideal breakfast is a cup of plain oatmeal made with boiled water (remember how I’m not picky?) and a banana with peanut butter.  This is what I eat almost every day back in the states and I am quite fond of it.  There have been days in which I consume far too many bananas with peanut butter in one sitting; college dining halls make it easy to obtain whole bunches.  As with all things though, I realize there are some problems with bananas.

 Before coming on this program I was aware that commercial bananas are genetically triploid, infertile.  They reproduce clonally, growing up new shoots from old root systems.  This means that one disease could completely and quickly wipe out an entire banana crop.  To stave of this danger, a wonderful cocktail of agrochemicals are used on banana plantations to deter disease, fungal growth, and pests.  While my program was studying at the La Selva Biological Station we visited a nearby Dole banana plantation.  There I learned of several practices that are done solely to appease the wants of a high income commercial market. 

              The first thing I noticed as we drove up to the plantation was the large plastic bags covering the developing banana bunches.  This happened to be the first question our tour guide addressed.  While I had guessed that the bags served to deter pests, I learned that the primary purpose of these bags is to decrease bruising.  Banana bruising refers to the slight discolorations on the external surface of the banana peel.  This bruising will not affect the taste of the banana, but studies have shown that high income consumers are far more likely to buy bananas without bruising.  So, companies are forced to cater to this preference.  Banana bunches are bagged as they developed.  Soft plastic sheets are inserted between “hands” (groupings on the larger bunch) so that they do not rest on each other and bruise.  Even during packing there are plastic guards used to ensure minimal bruising.  This generates huge amounts of plastic waste. 
            

Too often production of a good is influenced by the expectations of uninformed consumers.  Greater education and acceptance is needed in high income nations about the natural growth of food products so that growers do not have to invest in wasteful and labor-intensive practices.