Last week I had to privilage to visit one of the Chiquita Banana plantation and see how they ran their operation and see how they were trying to be more sustainable then their competitors. Chiquita is a certified Rainforest Alliance company and since 2000 the company has been a 100% Rainforest Alliance certified. When we visited the plantation we got to see a video on how Chiquita is trying to make a difference in the community around its plantations, walked through their reserve, walked through the banana plantation itself, saw a show about the history about Chiquita, and also got to see the packaging house for Chiquita bananas.
It was really interesting to see how Chiquita is trying to make a difference by being apart of the Rainforest Alliance. They are not only apart of that, but they are also trying to educate the community around them, employee them, and protect them through social and environmental responsibilities. Chiquita is giving the community an extra opportunity to make extra ncome by being part of the Nogua group which has workshops in theatre, tourism, basic administration and human relations. Chiquita is doing their part through the social responsibilit
ies by having a code of conduct which requires the Social Accountability 8000. The Social Accountability 8000 is a comprehensive labor rights standard based off of the United Nations and the Internations Labor Organization. Some requirements of this are no child labor, safe working conditions, no harsh or disrespectful treatment, working hours are a maximun of 48 hours a week, and
compensation. They are not only are doing their part in the social respondsibilties but also in the environmental responsibilities. Some of the environmental actions that they are taking are minimal pesticide use, protection of wildlife, consercation of water and soil, environmental education, fair pay, and a zero tolerance for deforestation. The company has planted at least one million trees along the rivers, lakes, and roads.
Just to give you a quick history of the Chiquita company, I will talk about the past 100 years. In 1870 Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker imported the first bananas to the United States, and by 1871 Minor C. Keith planted bananas alongside the railroad that he was constructing in Costa Rica. Twenty-eight years later Baker's Boston Fruit Company and Keith's railroad companies merged to create the United Fruit Company in 1899. A way that you knew that the bananas were the United Fruit Companies is because also in 1899 they painted their ships white to reflect the tropical sun and became known as the Great White Fleet. 1903 was a huge year for the company because they had two very important things happen to them, and they were that they created their first refrigerated ships and the company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1944 the name Chiquita came to be known and the Miss Chiquita character come into existance. In 1957 the first shipment of bananas were made in cardboard boxes instead of shipping them on the stems. Finally in 1966 one of the biggest events for Chiquita bananas occurred and that was the first shipment to Europe.
Just some fun facts that I learn about bananas while I was at the plantation are that bananas grow about 10 degrees above and below the equator and get an average of 78-98 inches of rain a year with an average temperature of 80 degrees F. Also, Chitquita owns about 15,000 hectares or about 37,000 acres of banana farms in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. Two very impressive facts about the Chiquita company is that in 2004 they shipped 136 million boxes of bananas to the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and now they employee more then 25,000.
As I mentioned earlier we were able to go see the packaging house whie we were visiting the plantation. While being there I got to see the process in which they packed the bananas. The workers would first bring the banana stems into the house by trivias, which is a cable system that carries the bananas in from the fields. Next they would count and weigh the banana stems, and about ten percent of the stem would be randomly inspected to ensure that the grade met Chiquita standards. After the bananas are inspect, they are then put into an area called the dehanding area where they are cut from the stem and placed into water tanks to be cleaned. The bananas are cut into clusters of 4 to 10 bananas, and they are washed for approximately ten minutes to make sure that the latex layer does not stain the banana. After the bananas have been washed they then are put on to a tray for packing where the workers will label the banana and have a final wash to ensure that the cut is sealed and to prevent the crown to rot. Finally, the bananas are put into the box where they are stanped with a code and the date so that they can be traceable if needed. Of the bananas that are not accepted by Chiquita standards they are either sold as another label or sent to a processing plant for puree.
Shipping for Chiquita is a whole other challenage for the company. The process of Chiquita shipping their bananas is not just putting them on a ship and shipping them to their destination, but rather is a long and carefully thought out process. They first transport the bananas to the ports within usually 24 hours of harvesting the bananas; where they will be shipped to the United States and Europe on the famous Great White Fleet. While traveling on the Great White Fleet the bananas are help in low temperatured refrigerated containers so the ripening process is slowed down. It could take the bananas up to 11 days to arrive at their destination, but when they arrive there they are carefully inspected by Chiquita officials. They will check the weight, size, quality, and any damage that might have occurred during the trip. After this inspection they are then sent to their final destination which is the market.
I was only at the Chiquita plantation for an afternoon, and I learned this much. Just imagen what I could have learned if I had stayed there longer, and was able to ask more questions. Overall, my experience at the Chiquita plantation was very enjoyable, and I felt like I learned a lot about the banana industry.
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