How is a Costa Rican Banana Industry Coping?

How is a Costa Rican Banana Industry Coping?

EARTH University - Guácimo, Costa Rica - is a university largely funded by a U.S Agency for International Development and has led to the establishment of more environmentally friendly, lower pesticide banana industry in Costa Rica since it’s foundation in 1989. Food from Earth went to the banana industry in Guácimo, to look at what has been happening in the banana industry and whether it’s been for the good or not.

At first, the land purchased by the university had an awful reputation with regards to human health and the environment as a result of intensive use of pesticides [Frundt et al 2009]. One of these detrimental environmental side effects of this industry included the discarding of trash that included plastic bags for the bananas, which ultimately were washed into rivers and the sea during periods of heavy rainfall - causing problems for the surrounding biodiversity. Such conventional farms used plastic bags that have been sprayed with insecticides and eventually led to chlorpyrifos exposure, which eventually saw health impacts upon children [Lovasi, GS et al 2011].

So what could EARTH University do to combat such detrimental issues that affected both human health and the environment? Since the 1989, the university has been looking at methods that include reducing chemical pesticides, recycling of plastic bags to ultimately making banana production carbon neutral. So what happened?

Before the university came to assistance, workers would have to endure heavy labour that included pulley systems that they would drag up to 25 bunches at a time for more than a mile, under extreme heat and humidity, so EARTH installed more than 30 miles of track with a banana-tram. This has benefit the workers’ health immensely.

With regards to biodiversity, Medina of the programme claims that they do not “plant within 50 feet of the river” and so there is a buffer that protects the stream from the chemical runoff. Recycling of plastic bags began in 1991, as well as cords. Another issue faced was the copious waste of banana stalk left after harvest, so EARTH would take this and recycle it as banana paper. In an attempt to reduce chemical uses on the banana industry’s plantations, EARTH began spraying a mix of bacteria and yeast species, which saw the chemical use get cut by a quarter.

In 2005 EARTH began replacing treated plastic bags with chili pepper and garlic to repel insects, and the following year then saw the end of herbicide usage, and workers now manually remove weeds. I believe that EARTH’s input in this industry in Guácimo has undoubtedly changed lives and reduced the environmental effects of agriculture - the establishment nets around $1 million a year and pays its employees a living wage - something which I have found quite rare in a lot of agricultural industries in developing nations! Furthermore, the impact of EARTH has influenced other surrounding communities and therefore leads by example, and rightly so, as now other agricultural industries are beginning to create sustainable products in carbon neutral ways [Carbon Clear 2013].