Banana

Characteristics
Bananas are a very important commodity for developing countries, with a clear dual nature which complicates the analysis. They are at the same time a major staple commodity, together with rice, wheat and maize, and a fundamental export commodity. Around one fifth of globally produced bananas are exported from the developing countries to the developed countries, an example of unidirectional South-North trade. The duality is also present in production systems, where large-scale banana plantations, mainly oriented to export markets, coexist along with smallholder banana farmers.

Many issues are involved in order to make of banana a very sensitive commodity at the international level, not only on economical grounds but also on the environmental, social and political aspects. During the last decades of the XX century, the export banana sector has shown a great dynamism and has undergone very important structural changes when facing challenges such as the successive reforms of the European Union (EU) Banana Regime and the following controversial World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute or the evolving pattern of consumer preferences and food distribution channels.
Description and technical characteristics
Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world. Members of the genus Musa (part of the family Musaceae), they are considered to be derived from the wild species Musa acuminata (AA) and Musa balbisiana (BB). It is believed that there are almost 1000 varieties of bananas in the world, subdivided in 50 groups. The most commonly known banana is the Cavendish variety, which is the one produced for export markets.
Bananas have very benefitial nutritional properties. They are a good source of vitamin C, B6 and A. Bananas have a high content of carbohydrates and fiber, while they are low in protein levels and fat free. They are also rich in potassium.

Source: IBA
Origin and history
There is a wide variety of historic references to bananas. They are mentioned in ancient Hindu, Chinese, Greek and Roman texts. It is believed that the earliest written reference to banana is in Sankrist and dates back to around 500 BC. Bananas are suspected to be the first fruit in the earth by some horticulturists.
The origin of bananas is placed in Southeast Asia, in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia or Philippines, where so many varieties of wild bananas still grow at present. Bananas have later travelled with human population. The first Europeans to know about bananas were the armies of Alexander the Great, while they were campaigning in India in 327 BC. In the Middle Ages, the banana was thought to be the forbidden fruit of paradise by both Moslems and Christians. The Arabs brought them to Africa. Africans are credited to have given the present name, since the word banana would be derived from the Arab finger. The Portuguese brought them to the Canary Islands. Bananas changed during all these trips, gradually losing its seeds, filling out with flesh and diversifying.
When Spaniards and Portuguese explorers went to the New World, the banana travelled with them. In 1516, when Fiar Tomas de Berlanga sailed to Santo Domingo, he brought banana roots with him. From there, bananas spread to the Caribbean and Latin American countries.
Bananas started to be traded internationally by the end of XIX century. Before that date, Europeans and North Americans could not enjoy them because of the lack of appropriate transport for bananas. The development of railroads and technological advances in regrigerated maritime tranport allowed for bananas to become the most important world traded fruit.
Crop
The banana is not a tree but a high herb that can attain up to 15 metres of height. It is a perennial plant that replaces itself. Bananas do not grow from a seed but from a bulb or rizhome. The time between planting a banana plant and the harvest of the banana bunch goes from 9 to 12 months. The flower appears in the sixth or seventh month. Bananas are available all year long.

Bananas are grown in tropical regions where the average temperature is 80° F (27° C) and the yearly rainfall is 78-98 inches (200-250 centimetres). They require moist soil with good drainage. In fact, most bananas exported are grown within 30 degrees either side of the equator.
Quality

Banana quality standards
Consumers demand high quality of the food they consume and they are interested in the taste, appearance or shape of bananas. Food safety has become a very significant issue, particularly after the food scares in Europe. Consumers want to be informed about the food they are consuming through appropriate labelling and tracking and traceability schemes.
The quality of the bananas would be determined by size (length of fingers and thickness), evenness of ripening, absence of blemishes and defects and the arrangement of the clusters. Quality standards may vary in the different markets.
Minimun quality requirements for bananas are set by Codex Alimentarius, according to which there are three classes of bananas:
"Extra" Class Bananas
In this class must be of superior quality. They must be characteristic of the variety and/or commercial type. The fingers must be free of defects, with the exception of very slight superficial defects, provided these do not affect the general appearance of the produce, the quality, the keeping quality, and presentation in the package.
Class I Bananas
In this class must be of good quality. They must be characteristic of the variety. The following slight defects of the fingers, however, may be allowed, provided these do not affect the general appearance of the produce, the quality, the keeping quality and presentation in the package:
- slight defects in shape and colour;
- slight skin defects due to rubbing and other superficial defects not exceeding 2 cm2 of the total surface area;
- The defects must not, in any case, affect the flesh of the fruit.
Class II
This class includes bananas which do not qualify for inclusion in the higher classes, but satisfy the minimum requirements specified above. The following defects may be allowed, provided the bananas retain their essential characteristics as regards the quality, the keeping quality and presentation:
- defects in shape and colour, provided the product retains the normal characteristics of bananas;
- skin defects due to scraping, scabs, rubbing, blemishes or other causes not exceeding 4 cm2 of the total surface area;
The defects must not, in any case, affect the flesh of the fruit.
Organic and Fair trade bananas
There are important environmental and social factors to consider in the production of banana. In order to achieve higher productivity levels, intensive banana production in large-scale plantations needs high quantities of external inputs as pesticides, fungicides and other agrochemicals to fight diseases and pests and maintain or increase fertility of the land, with the consequent damaging effects on the environment . These banana production practices may lead to deforestation, water pollution in rivers as well as under the ground, biodiversity damage and soil deterioration, as well as important health damages for banana workers. In addition, in certain countries working conditions in banana plantations may not be the minimum ones, wages for banana workers are very low while smallholders banana farmers do not receive a fair remuneration. In some cases the rights to unionise and collective bargaining are limited .
Banana consumers are increasingly concerned about banana production conditions both on the environmental and the social side. They are increasingly aware of the environmental damage caused by intensive production methods in plantations and the use of agrochemicals and pesticides. At the same time they are asking for better working conditions for banana producers, such as the payment of fair wages to banana workers, and the guarantee of fair prices to small produces. They are therefore demanding the presence of more organic and fair-trade bananas, in a general context of expansion of organically produced food products.
Some consumers in United States, Europe (in particular Switzerland) or Japan are willing to buy fair-trade and organic bananas even if their cost is higher. They are ready to pay a premium above the regular banana price if they are guaranteed that the bananas they are consuming are produced under sound environmental and social conditions. The premium may go from 30% to 80% of the normal banana price. Following these consumer demands, supermarkets are orientating their banana business in this direction, with an increasing presence of this kind of products in their outlets. The banana industry is therefore being pushed to move into fair-trade and organic banana production. With their influence, consumers can help to increase environmental and social sustainability in the export banana industry.