Nanners Finale

Last weekend we visited Chiquita's pilot Guayacan plantation in Sarapiqui. At the plantation we were presented with their banana show performed by Grupo Nogua.

Although bananas are a tropical plant, they are not native to Central America, so they require a lot of pesticides to produce effectively in CR. All the plants are tied in order to stay upright because they are are too big and would fall over by themselves. Nanners take nine months to mature and the process to cultivate them are environmentally damaging. They require acres of low level rainforests to be cut down in order to make them room to grow. They place bags over the bunches of bananas to protect them from insects. At this specific Chiquita plantation they use biodegradeable bags that are reused when many plantations do not.

At this plantation herbicides are sprayed twice per year, via plane. This is what most people are scared of, but apparently they are the least dangerous. More dangerous pesticides are sprayed quite often by workers. When spraying, workers wear protective gear and masks. The worker's blood is tested every three months to make sure that levels of toxins in their blood are not too high. Most workers, who generally do not make great wages, live on the outskirts of the plantation. At other plantations workers usually do not wear any protection at all, and are never blood tested. The Chiquita plantation uses the best chemicals on the market, while the others do not, furthering the need for blood tests that is not being met. Many of the chemicals used in banana production are proven to cause cancer and sterility.

With all of these issues in banana production, there is a huge need for reform. This is why organizations such as the Rainforest Alliance has been created. They strive for a world where the workers are not being killed by the very things that allow them to make a living. But even the people at the Chiquita plantation said that it took the workers a while to adjust to working with protective gear on. This shows that it is not only the plantation owners who do not provide safety for the workers but also the workers ignorance that is working against them, they do not know any better.

Fun Fact: Chiquita is a Spanish word used to describe something small and feminine.