Fair Trade bananas

In El Guabo, Ecuador, I had the chance to visit a Fair Trade banana farm. My friend Annika is currently volunteering for the El Guabo Association of Small Banana Producers (APPBG), and she gave me a tour around one of the many farms that are part of the Fair Trade cooperative. I had used the APPBG as a case study for one of my development studies essays in spring, so it was very interesting to see its work in real life!

The banana tree is actually not a tree at all, but a plant. It takes eight months for it to grow fruit, and when the banana bunch is picked, the plant dies. The humid, tropical climate ensures that it rots on the ground soon enough and fertilizes new generations of banana plants. Bananas grow all year around; there is no specific harvest period.




Bananas are not really “picked”, either; they are cut off the plant in huge bunches. To do so, the plant has to be cut down. The banana bunch is hauled to the wire leading to the packing zone, hung from a hook, and pulled all the way to the packing plant. There the bananas are washed, classified and packed. The work is physically extremely tough, and I did not see any female workers.










Packing bananas is trickier than it sounds because each box has to contain exactly 18.14 kg of bananas. An experienced worker packs one in no time. Each box bears a code indicating the farm where it was packed, and the date. If the bananas do not stand up to the Fair Trade requirements, buyers know whom to contact. It takes more than a month before the bananas hit European markets.






The quality requirements for Fair Trade bananas are relatively strict, so a part of the produce (too ripe bananas, for example) goes to domestic markets. The bananas are shipped to Europe while they are still green and they are only made ripen just before selling. I believe that inevitably affects the taste – here in South America all fruits tend to taste better than at home.

The whole process looked very well organized; you can see that the APPBG pays a lot of attention to quality. The Fair Trade premium allows the producers to invest in developing farm infrastructure, and the APPBG also provides them with technical support. Check out Annika’s blog if you want to know more about growing Fair Trade bananas: http://fairtradeinecuador.wordpress.com.

Bananas are the daily bread of Ecuador’s coastal population. Ecuadorians distinguish between the plantain, plátano, and the sweeter banana we in Europe are used to, banano. During my four days on the coast, I tasted banana in countless forms. Banana milkshake was my favourite, excellent way to begin the day! Tigrillo is a dish made of mashed plantain, cheese, and onion. Patacones, fried plantain, is a common accompaniment. One night we made patacones at Annika’s place with the help of some true Ecuadorian chefs, Annika’s friends Patricio, Miguel and Manuel.