Going Bananas !!

While serving with the Peace Corps in Panama, I wanted an education in bananas and boy did I get one. No less than a personally escorted tour from Don Ernesto, General Manager of COOBANA. COOBANA is a workers' cooperative founded in 1995 by a group of United Fruit (Chiquita) workers, who purchased the old government banana research station. Unlike the very cold shoulder I got from Chiquita, these folks gave me the grand tour and I will be working with them on a rain catchment system (and possible bano upgrades) in the communities where their workers live.

Ernesto started with some banana history at the office. He was around for the demise of the Big Mike, the variety that preceded the Cavendish and was almost wiped out by the TR1 fungus. It was larger, sweeter and stronger tasting than the Cavendish. I say “almost” because it looks like I might actually get a chance to taste it !! There are about 40 plants that survived on a remote farm and Ernesto is checking to see if we can get permission to visit. What a thrill for me to see and taste a banana of history !!

The banana plant is not a tree, but the largest known “flowering herb”. They can only be reproduced by planting a cutting or shoot from another banana plant, since the seeds are sterile. When ready to flower, they stop producing leaves and form a flowering, fruiting stem called an inflorescence. I think the name is apt, since the colors of its parts nearly glow. As the inflorescence bud descends, sequential “hands” are exposed and set.

It turns out that the Cavendish is NOT a single variety – there are 4 sub-varieties, only two of which are grown here – the William and the Alysia. While the plants look very different, the fruits are virtually identical. Great precautions are taken to ensure that the TR4 fungus, which has devastated Cavendish banana crops in Asia, will not take hold here. My first duty on entering the finca (farm) was to soak my boots in a disinfectant and register as a foreign visitor.

We then went to watch the harvesters at work. The hierarchy of the cooperative is very much like the Esalen of old. Everyone starts out as a harvester or packing worker – definitely a young person's game – and works their way up to cutter, loader, packing plant or field supervisor and then administration. All promotions are from within, so everyone has experience in the field and empathy for those “below” them.

Harvesters work in teams of four – a cutter, a loader and two haulers. The cutter trims away leaves that might damage the fruit and then pulls the bunch gently down to shoulder level. The haulers then insert foam pads between the hands to prevent bruising and the cutter deftly cuts the bunch onto the padded shoulder of a hauler. Contrary to my preconception, no machetes are used – only a very slick cutting and pulling tool.

The haulers carry the bunches to the trolley system where a loader attaches a cord to the bunch and hangs it on the trolley system. The. trolley unit is assembled in the field from various parts, including the pulleys and the bars which provide separation to the bunches so they won't make contact and bruise. When the train of about 60 bunches is full, the loader pulls it back to the packing shed.

At the packing shed, each trolley is inspected for length and width. Rejects are sold within Panama. The hands are then cut off one by one and sorted by size, before entering a bath of hydrogen peroxide solution to kill off any bugs or other critters. The fruit is then further cooled in a water bath before drying and application of the all-important logo sticker. A specific assortment of sizes goes into each carton in a specific order. Cartons are then marked with information about when, where and by whom they were packed and loaded onto pallets for shipping to the port of Almirante.

COOBANA ships a container ship full of bananas to Europe six times per month – about half to Britain under the Fyffe brand and the rest to Scandinavia, Switzerland and France under the “Fair Trade” label.

The cooperative is obviously proud, not only of their product, but of the way they care for and treat their worker members. While they are only 1/10 the size of Chiquita, they pay their workers more and sell their bananas for less while maintaining high standards for quality and care for the environment. For example, the use helicopters for spraying, which are more expensive than aircraft, but are more accurate and use less chemicals. All this begs the question : If the coop pays its workers better and provides the same quality product for less, where does all that extra Chiquita profit go?

While those who live in the US won't have a chance to buy from the cooperative. I hope that, after reading this, you gain some appreciation for all that goes into putting those picture perfect bananas on the supermarket shelf and ultimately in your tummy.