Banana - Scoilnet

BANANAS
Learning About Fair Trade
Region: Latin America
Focus: Democratic organizations
Concepts and Definitions
1
2. From Plantation to
Grocery Cart: The Story
of Banana Production 7
Map
2
Production photo-story
1. Fair What?
3
Banana Facts
4
Work on Banana
Plantations: Two
Perspectives
What’s Inside?
Who Gets What?
Distribution of Income
in the Banana Industry
Bruised Bananas:
Democracy and
Workers’ Rights
5
10
3. What Difference
Does Fair Trade Make? 12
Benefits of Fair Trade
Bananas for Producers
6
8
Interdependence: Connecting
Producers and Consumers
Photos: © Eric St-Pierre (www.ericstpierre.ca) unless mentioned
11
Locator Map
Bananas
Concepts and
definitions
Consignment: Providing your
goods to someone else but retaining
ownership of them and not receiving
payment until they are sold.
Cooperative: An organization jointly
owned and operated democratically
by people for their mutual benefit. A
cooperative can be owned/controlled
by the people who use the goods or
services or by the people who work
there.
Democracy: Rule of the people. A
system of governing where all those
eligible have the opportunity for an
equal say in decisions that affect
their lives.
Democratic organization: An
organization where people have an
equal say in the decisions that affect
their work and lives, where their rights
are protected and honoured
and where all are treated fairly.
Exploitation: Using something or
someone in a way that is unfair, unjust,
cruel and/or harmful.
Latin America: A term with slightly
different meanings. Usually refers
2
to Spanish, French, Creole and
Portuguese-speaking areas of Central
and South America.
Plantation: Growing one crop for sale,
on a very large scale, most often for
foreign markets.
Trade union/labour union: An
organized group of workers who come
together to gain improved working
conditions. Together workers can
negotiate with owners/employers
on things like wages, hiring, safety
concerns, benefits and so on.
Transnational: Carrying out an action
across national borders.
1. Fair What?
Introduction
Bananas—the world’s most popular fruit. And one of the most valuable products in the grocery store. But who
pays the price for mass-produced, low-cost bananas? Not the large transnational companies that control the world’s
banana trade—they still make millions.
In Latin America, working on a banana plantation can mean grueling hours, difficult working conditions, unsafe
exposure to pesticides and toxic chemicals and little job security. The banana industry has a long history of worker
exploitation and undemocratic practices.
What’s happening in the banana industry to try to change this? On large plantations with hired labour, workers
are fighting for their right to better working conditions and the freedom to form and join trade unions. But
sometimes this perceived threat to profits and power means organizing unions and defending worker’s rights can
cost you your life.
In some regions, small-scale banana producers are joining together to form fair trade cooperatives. Through the
cooperative model, these banana farmers are able to improve working conditions for themselves and their other
workers and invest in community improvements.
In this case study, you will learn about the banana industry in Latin America, its sad history of repression and long
record of worker abuse. And you’ll explore a more democratic alternative—fair trade banana cooperatives. Then
choose your next steps to take action to affect change in the world through ethical consumption.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1. What are the connections between
bananas, workers rights and how
banana plantations are owned
and operated?
2. Why is it important to consider
where and how bananas are grown
and harvested?
3. What actions are people taking
to make growing and selling
bananas better for producers,
workers, the environment, families
and communities?
3
Banana Facts: Did you know?
1. The banana plant is the largest flowering,
non-woody plant in the world, growing up to
seven metres high.
2. Yellow bananas are the most popular fruit in Canada
and around the world. The Cavendish brand makes
up 99 percent of all bananas grown for export.
3. Bananas grow in at least 100 tropical and
sub-tropical countries. Only about 10-15 percent of
bananas are exported—about 15 million bananas
each year. Most are eaten in the countries in which
they are grown.
4. More than 90 percent of traded bananas are produced
on large, banana-only plantations in Latin America,
West Africa and the Philippines.
5. Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines and Columbia
accounted for 64 percent of world banana exports
in 2006.
6. Most export bananas are picked when they are green
(not ripe) for world markets. Then they are treated
with ethylene gas to ripen and turn yellow before
being sold.
1.
7. Five big companies control 80 percent of world
banana sales. They also control the power and the
profits. Generally, only 20 percent or less of the
price paid for a banana goes to the country where it
was grown. Even less of that goes to the farmer or
plantation worker.
8. Plantation work can be very difficult, with 12 hour
work days, short contracts and no benefits—no
pension, medical care, paid overtime, vacation, or
job security.
9. Huge amounts of pesticide and fungicide are sprayed
on banana plantations—up to ten times the rate of
those used on crops in industrialized countries. Many
of these pesticides have been banned for use in North
America because of the harm they cause people and
the planet.
10. Fair trade cooperatives formed by small-scale banana
farmers are paid a fair price that covers production
costs. Profits are distributed fairly and all members
have a say in decision-making. Health and safety
measures are followed and child labour is prohibited.
11. Canadians eat an average of 14 kilograms of bananas
per year but only 1 percent of bananas sold in Canada
are fair trade.
Royal Horticultural Society Journals (2002). Yes, we have more bananas.
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) Fair Trade Bananas Online,
available at: www.fairtrade.net
11.
Popplewell, B. (2009). Banana Republic. Toronto Star August 15, 2009.
7, 8, 9, 10.
4
Who Gets What? Distribution of Income in
the Banana Industry
Plantation Company: 15.5%
Plantation Worker: 2.5%
Supermarket: 45%
Transport (Export/Import):19%
Importer/Ripener: 18%
YouTube videos can be viewed where
school board acceptable use policy
allows it. Every effort has been made
to provide the correct URLs for prescreened YouTube videos. However,
these sites can change and the URL
address could lead students to sites
that are inappropriate.
Go online and check out the record of the big five
banana corporations in regards to their record on
workers’ rights and the freedom to form trade unions.
Visit their web sites and see what they say about their
own commitment to improving working conditions
for their workers.
Watch!
Banana Workers in Ecuador (8:26 mins)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrp7FpJGyqw
This powerful short film tells the story of what happened when banana workers on the Los Alamos
plantation in Ecuador workers decided to organise and strike to gain basic labour rights. It is an eyewitness
account of the strike and the response of the plantation owner, Ecuador’s richest man.
Hard Labour (4:26 mins)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVfbMmV4xYY
Working conditions on plantations in Latin America are extremely tough.
In this video, workers tell their stories about the impacts on their health, income and rights.
5
Bruised Bananas: Democracy
and Workers’ Rights
Have you ever heard the term “banana republic”? It refers to a politically
unstable country ruled by a small, self-elected, often wealthy and corrupt
government. The main business, agriculture, is dominated by foreign
companies who own massive plantations growing only a few products, like
bananas, for export. Who has the real power in a banana republic? Why the
foreign companies, of course. Their goal is profit at the expense of all else.
The government seems to protect the interests of the companies, not the
workers or the land, in order to stay in power and generate jobs
and income.
As you may have guessed, “banana republics” began with the banana industry
in the early 1900s. A large American company, through bribes and financial
kickbacks, was able to “partner” with corrupt governments in many Caribbean
and Latin American countries to manipulate their land use laws. They bought
large areas of public land and started banana plantations.
The people who had always lived on the land had no place to go and no
land on which to grow food and raise families. They were forced to work
for very poor wages on the plantations. This meant the company always
had a plentiful supply of cheap labour. And to keep costs down and
maximize profits, the workers were exploited and harshly treated by both the
government and the large banana corporations for decades.
Whether located in banana republics or not, serious human rights abuses and
exploitation are still the norm on many banana plantations. Some examples?
TORM
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v Lack of respect for worker rights and labour standards even with signed
international agreements.
v Hazardous working conditions and health and safety concerns such as
unsafe exposure to toxic and dangerous chemicals.
v Very low wages and long hours. Some workers get paid as little as $1 a day
and must work 12-13 hour days. Compulsory overtime is common.
v No job security, short contracts and no medical or other benefits.
v People can be fired for no good reason.
v Workers cannot freely
organize or join a union
to work for better wages,
benefits and working
conditions. Workers can be
fired, imprisoned, assaulted
and sometimes killed for
taking part in union activities.
Who Be
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What are the
alternatives?
v Plantations that meet high social and
environmental standards.
v Unionized plantations: a union is
an organized group of workers who
come together to gain improved
working conditions. Together,
banana plantations workers can
negotiate with owners on wages,
safety concerns, working conditions,
benefits and so on.
v A democratically-run organization:
a democratic organization is one
where people have an equal say in
the decisions that affect their work
and lives, where their rights are
protected and honoured and where
all are treated fairly. In the case of
bananas, small-scale producers have
joined together to form democratic,
fair trade organizations to grow and
sell their bananas for export.
This case study features
democratically-run banana
organizations.
Adapted from: Banana Companies: A Corporate
responsibility survey (2003) Stock at Stake Corporate
Responsibility Research and Advice, Brussels, Belgium and
BananaLinks (www.bananalinks.org.uk)
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Banana in your lunch? How did
it get there? Where did it come
from? Who was involved?
As a group, fill out the graphic
organizer on page 3 of the
TAKING ACTION GUIDE
2. From Plantation to Grocery
cery Cart:
Cart:
The Story of Banana Production
Bananas in Figures
Conventionally Traded Bananas
Fair Trade Bananas
Global production (2008)
Global imports (2008)
85,855,856 tonnes
299,205 tonnes
Value of global banana trade (2008)
Retail sales of fair trade bananas (2008)
$5,799,000,000
$660,720,000
Producing countries (% produced, 2008)
Producing countries (% produced, 2008)
India (26%)
China (9%)
Philippines (9%)
Brazil (8.5%)
Ecuador (7.5%)
Dominican Republic (36%)
Columbia (30%)
Ecuador (11%)
Main importers of bananas (in tonnes, 2002- 2004
average)*
Main importers of fair trade bananas (in tonnes, 2007 – 2008)
United States (3,400,000)
European Union (3,300,000)
Japan (1,000,000)
United Kingdom (189,413)
Switzerland (28,019)
Germany (12,432)
United States (11,292)
Austria (10,572)
A total of 28 small producer organizations and 25 organizations
with hired labour in nine countries produce fair trade bananas
The European Union, the United States, and Japan
together accounted for more than 70% of world
total banana imports in 2006.
Conventionally traded price of bananas (2007 - 2008)
Fair trade price of bananas (2007 - 2008)
$5.75 – $8.25/box (18.14 kg)
$6.75 - $9.25/box (18.14kg)
FT premium: $1/box
Organic premium: $1.50 - $2.30/box
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Source: * UNCTAD/FAO (bananas) www.unctad.org; Remaining table figures and facts from St-Pierre, Eric (2010). Fair Trade: A Human Journey. Les Éditions de l’Homme,
Quebec: p. 150. Used with permission.
Examine the
economic differences
between the
countries that
produce bananas and
those that import/
purchase.
Locate and label the key importing
and exporting countries on the
map in the TAKING ACTION
GUIDE. Graphically demonstrate
the conventional and fair trade
banana routes.
7
Banana production is labour intensive. After bunches
are cut, workers transport the bananas to the
processing facilities located on the plantation.
2
1
Pablo Mera cuts a bunch of bananas on the
plantation of Vincente Matute, a member of
El Guabo, in Ecuador. Unlike coffee and cocoa,
bananas are harvested year round; each week Vincente’s 4
hectare plantation can produce from 120 to 350 boxes of
bananas.
5
Small organic fair trade bananas labelled for the fair
trade organization responsible for their distribution
such as Oké in the United States.
8
Leon Segundo is weighing small bananas so that each box
reaches 12 kg. For the Cavendish variety, boxes weigh 18 kg.
In spite of thousands of varieties of bananas, the Cavendish
makes up 99 percent of all commercialized bananas.
6
3
Luis Heras cuts the bunches into clusters of
four to seven bananas, which are then put
into washbasins.
Photos: © Eric St-Pierre (www.ericstpierre.ca)
4
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Export regulations are extremely rigid. Size,
appearance and ripening level are checked
rigorously. The fruits are also cleaned and
inspected to avoid any presence of insects.
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It’s loading day for El Guabo’s bananas in the port of Puerto
Bolivar. These bananas will leave the coast of Ecuador for a one
to three week voyage to Europe, North America and other fair
trade markets.
9
Work on Banana Plantations: Two Perspectives
What does the large multi-national banana company say?
“[Our company] pays wages and benefits that are competitive within its industry and that allow
workers and their families to have a good standard of living commensurate with the societies in
which its workers live and work. … [We ] respect the freedom of the individual worker to join
the union of his or her choice or to refrain from such membership. Employees who have chosen
unions in accordance with applicable laws and regulations are entitled to bargain collectively
through representatives of their own choosing.”
What do the plantation workers say?
In the El Zapote plantation, one of this company’s suppliers, a hundred workers were on
strike for months. In 2005, 136 workers who had signed the founding document of the
trade union were barred from entering their workplace. They declared a strike. They were
protesting against the dismissal of 98 workers after the creation of the new trade union.
Two weeks later, the plantation workers were evicted by a group of 100 policemen and
armed guards who had been sent by management and the police.
In Costa Rica, this same company laid off all its workforce, offering to re-hire them the next day with wages that were
from 30 to 40 percent lower than they had previously been paid.
A former El Zapote worker and striker was forced to seek work at a nearby plantation in order to feed his three
daughters and wife. He was told that a memo had been seen in the farm office stating that he was not welcome any
more in any of the four farms belonging to that particular owner.
As soon as workers in other plantations that supplied the company with bananas exercised their right to set up a
union, the company fired them.
In Guatemala, an unresolved labour conflict goes back to 1998. At this time, trade union representatives were
fired from the plantations in the Caribbean coastal province of Izabal. This conflict escalated until the company
ordered the arrest of trade union representatives and the legal adviser of the workers. The company accused them of
sabotaging production. The plantations were later sold.
Source: Behind the smokescreen: An investigation into Dole’s
banana plantations in Latin America. Online, available at:
www.bananalink.org.uk/images/doleanglais%20medium.pdf
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Conduct some research
and find out what other organizations
and businesses in Canada import and
sell fair trade bananas.
3. What Difference Does Fair Trade Make?
Benefits of Fair Trade Bananas for Producers
Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) www.fairtrade.net
Used with permission
Bananas bearing the Fair Trade Certification Mark have been produced by small farmer
organizations or in plantations that meet high social and environmental standards.
Producer organizations are paid a fair trade minimum price which aims to cover average
sustainable costs of production. The fair trade minimum price for bananas is different for each
region and is based on the costs of sustainable production. The price is different for each region,
ranging from US $6.75- $9.25 for an 18.4 kg box of bananas.
The fair trade price for organic bananas is higher than for conventional. A fair trade premium of
US $1.50- $2.30 per 18.14 kilo per box of bananas is paid to producer organizations. The fair
trade premium is an amount of money paid over and above the fair trade price. Organizations
are to use the premium for social, environmental or economic development projects which they
choose democratically.
Fair trade standards for small banana farmers:
¸ All members of the producer organization must have a voice in the decision-making process
and in the group organization (democratic processes).
¸ Profits must be equally distributed among the members of the cooperative or association.
Fair trade standards for banana plantations:
¸ A joint body is formed and includes workers and management to decide on the use of
the premium.
¸ The premium must not be used to cover ongoing operating expenses, but rather to improve
living and working conditions.
¸ Forced labour and child labour of children of 15 years and under is prohibited. Work for
children over 15 must not interfere with their education. They must not do work that could
risk their health.
¸ Workers have the right to establish or join an independent union.
¸ Salaries must be equal to or higher than the regional average or than the minimum wage.
¸ Health and safety measures must be established in order to avoid work-related injuries.
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2
1
Vincente Matute, a founding member of
El Guabo, recalls the situation before the
Association existed, “The local middlemen who
bought our bananas were not exporters. They were
exploiters! I remember very well our first meeting with the
representatives of a European organization. We sat under
a tree. We laughed and cried. In the end, they offered us
ten times more than the local price. Some people didn’t
believe in it, but I decided to and so we formed the first
small-scale producers’ association in the region.”
Laura Ines and Luis Coyago Sagbay, are smallscale banana growers, part of the 450 members
of the El Guabo Asociacion de Pequenos
Productores Bananero (El Guabo Association of Small
Banana Producers), in Ecuador.
3
Small-scale producers rely on
family members to work their
plantation. For example, Luis
Gamboa and his son Denny look after
8,000 banana plants and cocoa trees on
their 12 hectares of land.
12
Thelmo Japon packs his organic fair trade bananas into
boxes at the Muyuyacu association’s collective facilities.
Muyuyacu is one of the 14 small-scale banana growers
associations that make up El Guabo. In 2008, of the
63 FLO certified fair trade producers’ organizations, 28 were
democratic small producers’ organizations, such as El Guabo,
and 35 were large plantations with hired labour.
4
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Photos: © Eric St-Pierre (www.ericstpierre.ca)
El Guabo banana exports reach 20 million
a year including $2.2.million of fair
trade premiums that are invested in social
development. They have a clinic with a doctor and
nurse for free consultations, they pay the salaries of
17 local teachers, pay the health insurance premiums
for all members. Also, every worker receives a box of
basic food supplies every month.
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In the Dominican Republic, Finca 6 – another fair trade
banana cooperative – is an enormous banana
plantation that covers 700 hectares, which
is subdivided into 250 plots, one for each
of the families collectively owning this fair
trade cooperative.
6
13
E
Interdependence: Connecting Producers and Consumers
Discovery Organics,
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
www.discoveryorganics.ca/index.html
ml
Join your classmates in playing the role-playing/
simulation game “Growing Bananas”. A version with
all the necessary instructions and game
cards can be found online at
www.risc.org.uk/files/growing-bananas.pdf
Used with permission
Equal Exchange and their
Fair Trade partner,
El Guabo, Ecuador
Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is a workerowned co-op based in West
Bridgewater, Massachusetts,
USA. They partner with cooperatives of small-scale farmers
who make their own decisions
on business and community
matters. After more than 20 years
in business, Equal Exchange now
offers organic and sustainably
grown coffee, tea, chocolates,
cocoa, sugar, nuts and berries
from Africa, Asia, Latin America
and the United States.
In 2009, Equal Exchange started
selling organic, fair trade
bananas as majority owners of
Oke USA.
See: www.equalexchange.
coop/index.php and www.
beyondthepeel.com
14
Discovery Organics supplies hundreds of customers including rural food cooperatives and
natural food retailers in Western Canada and other wholesalers in places like Los Angeles
and Toronto.
Discovery moves food! They bring in food from all over the Americas—for example, pallets
of lemons and grapes, kale and leeks. They repackage the products based on client needs
and send totally different looking pallets, with 20 or even 50 different items on them, back
out on their delivery trucks to their customers.
Discovery Organics is a true labour of love for owner Annie Moss and her husband Randy
Hooper. Their business began in the basement of their home in 1999. Their mission - to
help develop markets for local organic farmers.
“We got into this business because we wanted to help small scale organic farmers here
at home get a good price for the food they produce, and to ensure their families and
communities thrive. Over the past decade or so, we have endeavored to do this, step by
step, with over ninety British Columbia farms,” says Annie.
Over the years, Discovery has extended their relationships with small scale farmers to
include farms down the Pacific Coast, through Washington, Oregon and California, and
into Mexico and South America.
More than ten years later, Discovery Organics now operates from a large warehouse in East
Vancouver. Their products include fruit, eggs, rice and grains, beans, seeds and lentils,
cereal, soft drinks, tea and coffee, oil, household cleaning supplies and prepared dinners.
And they distribute fair trade organic bananas from the BOS cooperative in Peru to stores
across Western Canada.
For more about BOS, see www.bos-salitral.com/e
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Watch!
Discovery Organics is a certified organic food
ood wholesaler. A wholesaler serves as a food
connector, buying products from producers andd reselling
lli iti to grocery stores andd other
h
retail outlets.
As you read these profiles
think about:
s
s
s
s
The story of production
The benefits of fair trade
The case study theme
The future of fair trade
NEFITS
El Guabo, Ecuador
Source: Equal Exchange
www.equalexchange.coop/profile-of-el-guabo-in-ecuador
Used with permission
In 1998, 14 small-scale banana farmers were fed up with selling their bananas to local traders for low prices and
with little voice in how they did business. They took a risk, and decided to join together as a cooperative of smallscale banana producers. The farmers began by taking a risk—they sold one container of bananas to Europe on
consignment. The bananas were accepted and with this pivotal first sale, the El Guabo Association of Small Banana
Producers was born.
Today, El Guabo includes 450 banana farmers, located in three provinces of southwest Ecuador. El Guabo has yearly
banana sales of $20 million.
El Guabo is committed to improving the quality of life of their members and their communities. El Guabo’s
members voted to spend 80 percent of the fair trade premium, up to $2.2 million/year, on education, health care,
environmental projects and other social programs. What do these projects look like?
s
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PAIDTEACHERSINLOCALSCHOOLS
s
(EALTHINSURANCEFORCOOPMEMBERS
s
!NDABOXOFBASICFOODPRODUCTSFORALLWORKERSEACHMONTH
The remaining 20 percent is spent on infrastructure improvements such as packing stations and warehouses.
Today, El Guabo is giving back to the greater community by sharing their highly successful co-operative model with
other producer groups in Ecuador and throughout the world.
Learn more in this video from the workers of El Guabo!
www.mefeedia.com/watch/23630751
15
ASOBANU, Dominican Republic
www.fairtrade.org.uk
Used with permission
“In my life, you know, I never thought that an organization as important as fair trade could exist. For us small
producers, we are very committed to fair trade, it is our means of survival here in the Dominican Republic. We see
fair trade as being part of a big family – it’s something that came here to set our producers minds at rest – I think that
something fair, fair trade, is something we should treasure and respect.”
José Peralta, October 2006 ASOBANU, Dominican Republic
Introduction
José Miguel Peralta Castellano is a small-scale banana producer who lives with his wife and four daughters, aged 14
to 23. Three are studying at university and the other is still in high school. José farms around 8 hectares of organic
certified bananas with a production of 180-185 boxes a week, each box weighing approximately 18kg.
José joined ASOBANU, an organisation of small-scale banana producers, in 1999 before being elected president in
the summer of 2005.
ASOBANU was founded in 1998 and is based near the town of Batey Amina in the northwest of the Dominican
Republic. It brings together small-scale farmers who don’t have the capacity to export on their own and who
wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate in fair trade. Membership has grown from eight farmers at the beginning
to 191 today, including 34 women. The group was fair trade certified in 2004 and 102 farms also have organic
certification.
Fair Trade future
José is optimistic, “Our hope for the future is that we keep getting the fair trade premiums always, and that we’re
able to keep moving forwards, that we have the strength to keep working the land, that we continue to meet all the
requirements from your countries. Also we want to keep protecting the environment, and many other things that
we’re working on.”
“A consumer who buys a fair trade banana knows that they are contributing to the life of a small producer here in the
Dominican Republic, and what’s more, they are contributing to a whole lot of different causes and are supporting the
health and wellbeing not just of the banana producers but their whole community.”
Learn more in this video from the workers of ASOBANU!
ASOBANU video (8:33 mins)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO7Ze1jV-I
Go Bananas for Fair trade (3:03 mins) Video on BANELINO and ASOBANU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AFjJvar_Qg&feature=related
AND
www.fair trade.org.uk/resources/films/bananas_dominican_republic.asp
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