bananas:banana industries "go green"

There are banana smoothies, splits, breads and more. Acres of rainforests are cut down to make banana plantations. The workers spray several pesticides and herbicides to keep away fungi, weeds, and pests from eating away at the disease prone banana plants.

Most of the world’s bananas are grown in Central and South American lowlands. Sales in Costa Rica have been rising steadily over the years. The idea of implementing a more environmentally friendly way of producing bananas is gaining popularity. Standard banana plantations will tie plastic bags around the buds to protect the fruit. But these pesticide-covered bags tend to end up in watersheds and rivers, sometimes clogging them. Today almost all banana growers in Costa Rica are using the bag recycling programs. Dole recently signed an agreement with the government of Costa Rica to produce a carbon neutral supply chain for both the bananas and pineapples grown in Costa Rica.

People are working on producing completely organic bananas in the near future but there is an airborne fungus that shrinks the bananas and then finally kills the plant. Right now we only have powerful fungicides that can fight that disease. There have been fertilizers that have been developed that have been able to minimize the disease. The overall goal for banana producing businesses should be to achieve sustainability. They can’t just reduce the use of these chemicals they also need to focus on good working conditions etc for the farmers.