bananas case study

Question 1

BANANAS - WORLD TRADE

Answer 1

• Banana trade raises a variety of environmental, social and political problems.
  
  • Fourth most important food
  • Revenue $15 billion per year
  • Contain large quantities of energy, rich in vitamins, fiber and protein.
  • Most traded agriculture commodity with global exports at $23.3 million
  • 80% of bananas produced for local or national consumption
  • Grown in hot rainy, tropical regions
  • India, china, Indonesia and Brazil are the largest global producers of bananas
  • The Philippines have become very important for production as they transport these to Japan, east Asia, and the Middle East
  • Banana are susceptible to disease and are treated with chemicals to reduce this risk
  • Large TNCs supply 30kg of ingredients per hectare
  • Cost the environment in terms of deforestation, soil fertility and loss of biodiversity
  • World trade is dominated by ACP = Africa, Caribbean and pacific
  • Bananas are grown on large monoculture plantations
  • Small and mediums growers will be family farms and co-operations will be bigger larger companies and TNCs controlling these
  • Latin America and Caribbean produce 17 million tonnes of bananas for the market in 2018
  • Largest imports are the EU and the USA
  • Larger exporters and corporations use their own sea transportation and ripening facilities, and own distribution networks in consuming countries