Bananas, dos

Though we have not yet visited a banana production facility yet, the topic keeps coming up in class so I got curious and started Googling. The common thing that I kept finding and kept grabbing my attention was the poor treatment of banana farm workers. They are forced to work long hours in the hot sun and harsh conditions without proper benefits or compensation. They are exposed to very dangerous amounts of toxic chemicals on a daily basis. The towns near plantations where the workers live are poor living conditions with many social problems. How do companies (in any industry really) think that its ok to treat their employees this way? Though some companies in smaller developing countries may get away with it for now, this goes along with everything we have talked about in class concerning risk management. Eventually the poor treatment and labor conditions will come back to bite the companies carrying out these practices and the consequences could be harsh. Besides, if companies treated their employees well they would be happier to work hard and more dedicated to their quality of work, as we saw for example with Daisy Rodriguez's small coffee plantation.

I did find a few more hopeful instinces of fair treatment of banana workers and support of the local communities, though. Some companies are realizing that there needs to be a change and are taking the steps to get there. Many of these companies are also those that are beginning to be more sustainable in their production, often times organic farmers. The Sustainable Banana Program supports these companies and helps to spread movement among banana producers by encouraging banana production that protects the society, economy, and cultures of banana producing countries through education of consumers about the industry and its practices, research assistance to help small producers who do not have the proper funding to do it on their own, and marketing of organic banana producers to consumers especially in the US. This sounds like an organization that could really be a motivating factor and driver for organic production and more socially responsible banana production. It is trying to solve many of the problems for small banana producers that Daisy mentioned that resulted when she attempted to be a small organic coffee producer.