Banana's Round 2

Still haven't seen any banana planatations or really heard much of anything about banana's yet. My house mother feeds me fresh banana's every morning. Maybe banana's are a large economic market in Costa Rica? Agriculture is 14.6% on the labor force in Costa Rica. A good chunk of that comes from banana's. The Standard Fruit Co. began productions in the Atlantic lowlands in 1956. Alongside ASBANA (Asociacion de Bananeros), a government-sponsored private association, Standard Fruit helped revive the Atlantic coast banana industry. Much of the new acreage has come at the expense of thousands of acres of untouched jungles. Banana export earnings rose from $482.9 million in 1992 to $531 million in 1993.

The banana industry is very important to developing countries along with coffee and tourism. Banana exports worldwide are valued at $4.7billion/ year. At the local and regional level where a strong bond is established between banana-generated income and household food security. Bananas are produced in mainly tropical climates because of the ideal growing conditions. Latin American and the Caribbean region dominated up to the eighties in banana production, the Asian region took the lead in banana production during the nineties. Costa Rica accounts for 3% of banana production amongst the world. However, Costa Rica accounts for about 14% of banana exports and distribution amongst the world.

Banana's grow in tropical regions within about 10 degrees of the equator that get about 78-98 inches of annual rainfall and where the temperature averages around 80 degrees F. Banana production is very labor intensive but plantations also utilize machinery. Workers must bag the stem of the plant and mark the bags with colored ribbons, 10 to 13 weeks from bagging. Some plants require twin to hold them up to ensure that they do not fall over with the extra weight of the stem. Workers also place padding in the banana's to protect them from bruising. Harvested plants are cut down, which allows for new growth.