Banana Research

Costa Rica highly depends on the exporting of bananas. They are the second largest exporter after Ecuador. Bananas account for 68% of traditional exports in Costa Rica. Fifty percent of banana production occurs on medium sized farms. The banana industry employees 50,000 people in Costa Rica. The banana production farms sell most of their banana production to the United States to companies like Chiquita, Del Monte, and Standard Fruit. These companies own many of the plantations and control the profitability of the product. Two way trade between the United States and Costa Rica exceeded $7.9 billion in 2006. Costa Rica has remained constant in its production of bananas over the past few years by producing 2.3 million tonnes each year. Most of the profits (88.5%) generated by bananas are at the retail level.

Most of the banana production in Costa Rica is based in the Atlantic lowlands, where the land is fertile, flat and the air is very humid. Banana production will only be successful in the best soils. The soils need to be well drained with a high balance of nutrients and a pH level between 6 and 7.5. Prime soils are frequently found in alluvial plains and on volcanic ash deposits. An intereseting fact is that banana production can only exist when the temperature is between 80-100 degrees and this is why bananas remain a tropical fruit.

According to Chiquita banana production consists of four major segments: plant growth, banana protection, harvest, and cleaning and packaging. Bananas are grown from existing plants not seeds. So when a whole crop is destroyed it becomes impossible to replant. Also, banana crops are not very diverse genetically, so when a disease hits the plants it can potentially whipe out the entire crop.