Is the Banana Business Bananas?

By: Isabel Bautista

 It isn’t too surprising to hear that Philippines is a huge exporter of bananas, especially in Asian regions (Japan loves our bananas!!), and it just makes sense that the country has to have a lot of banana plantations to be able to produce the delicious yellow thing you peel before you eat. But before you peel that banana, let’s think about something. What is the cost of making the fruit and what are effects? Is it good we are profiting from the suffrage of others or is it bad that we forget that bright side of all these?? Is the this business insane??? Don’t think too hard about it as there is a simple table of pros and cons about banana plantations for you to read about.

PROS
CONS
  1. Lands For Banana Production - by having lands for plantation, there would be more room for goods to produce and to export to places like Japan and all the way to Middle East. More products to sell, more profit to earn.
  2. Livelihood Opportunities for Workers - businesses are able to provide job opportunities for those in need. These workers would be paid depending on their duty may it be taking care of the trees or harvesting.
  3. Easy to Maintain - it is self-explanatory but for further explanation; it is the reason people prefer investing into the banana industry because of our tropical climate which is perfect for bananas.
  4. Cheap to Buy - because of the low prices from the abundance, bananas are popular in the markets and increases sales. Even Filipinos are able to get their hands on these delicious fruit because of the abundance.
  1. Land is Taken - there have been cases of land being taken from ancestral areas and poor communities. These people would not be allowed to plant on these plantations unless they ask for lease and become tenants.
  2. Poor Work Conditions of Plantation Workers - many workers earn very little for their work and they would sometimes work in harsh conditions (i.e. pesticides in the air and) that affect their health. As if having a small salary was enough trouble already.
  3. Environmental Problems - banana trees take up space and the more lands are cleared to be able to farm banana trees. They would cut down and clear out all the other trees to make room and to grow more of their products in the land they have.
  4. Unfair Competition between Small and Big Businesses - small companies would not be able to keep up with bigger commercial companies in terms of production and income.

 From the table shown, it gives a sort of detailed summary about the strengths and weaknesses of the banana plantation. Most of the pros of the banana plantation are often economic reasons such as increase in profit, evading the scarcity of the number of banana, and costs-and-demands of the product. We can see that having banana plantations could be seen as a good thing and thus it would mean we should invest more into this particular industry because we earn more from it, correct? Not exactly, children. There are still issues that are being dealt with and there are hardships that could other factors that are not only economic; especially since the Philippines is a developing country that relies on agricultural sectors to be able to provide supplies and that many of Filipinos are farmers, we have to take account of these issues. Looking at the cons, the problems tend to lean to being targeted at those who are in poverty. You see, the farmers who make those quality goods you love to eat are working really hard. SO hard that that they are practically sacrificing their own life to feed their family and the customer. Please always remember that there are benefits to these banana plantations but do not forget that there is the dark side of things which we need to be aware of. From awareness, we learn and when we learn, we can solve.

Now what do you think about? There are good things and bad things in everything but this post wants to bring awareness to issues on the banana plantation in the Philippines. Although there are macro-level opportunities from having the banana plantations in the Philippines but let us not forget that there are risks and hazards to it. We need to try to balance that out. As said from the last paragraph: From awareness, we learn and when we learn, we can solve. Don’t ever forget that even the smallest person can do the biggest of things. Thanks for following this post!
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