Bananas Capitulo Uno

I had my first banana sighting on our first full day here at the gift shop we stopped by in San Jose. One of the really cool things about Costa Rica is that most of the buildings are very open. So when we went inside the shop it went right outside into a yard with a banana tree.

Bananas are grown in 107 countries across the world with %10-%15 of this production being for export (mostly being sold to the U.S. and Europe according to Wikipedia). It actually surprises me that the export statistics are so low since bananas are such a popular fruit. But I guess when there is a good banana growing climate in over 100 countries there doesn't need to be so much exporting.

One the major exporters of bananas is Costa Rica. Bananas are a big deal here. We have been told that they are the number 2 or 3 leading industry in CR. Though we also learned while back at Miami that the banana industry is much more damaging to the environment than say the coffee industry is. Banana plantations are very large and they require more chemicals to keep them safe. Because they are difficult to maintain, farmers tend to abandon their fields when they reach a certain point and search for a new area to use. This obviously takes up a large amount of Costa Rican land and may not be so efficient. I am pretty excited to visit the banana plantations and see what it's all about. It's interesting that one of the major exports of CR is also rather damaging to the environment. I want to hear about how the banana plantations work, why they are harmful, and what the Ticos may be trying to do to help the situation. All in all I think the sustainability issue is pretty interesting and look forward to seeing how a simple fruit like bananas fits into the equation.