Bananas

I am interested in learning more about the banana industry in Costa Rica because as I am researching I’m not finding as much information as I expected to find. The banana industry has been named the number one foreign currency earning industry in Costa Rica and is continuing to expand to meet the needs of a growing international market. I am really having trouble finding interesting information about bananas in Costa Rica so I will post more once we visit Chiquita and the Organic Banana Plantation. I did find articles about the banana industry “Going Green” but that is almost expected among businesses today.

Production:

Banana plants are the largest herb in the world. A banana plant will continue to grow from the same rhizome, which sends up multiple shoots. A rhizome is a plant trunk and these are used to make new banana plants. The workers will select the shoot that seems the best or healthiest to be the next plant to produce. They will eliminate all of the other banana plants. After about 6 to 8 months the plant will develop a stem that has a large bud. There are little flowers in these that will grow to become bananas. During this whole process the plants are fertilized and protected from diseases, insects, etc. The fertilizer must be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union.