Today, we traveled to Sarapiquí to visit banana and pineapple plantations. Sarapiquí is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, so the elevation and climate is different than at the coffee plantations we have visited. The supply chains for pineapples and bananas are much more simple than those of coffee, as there is no roasting involved for either of these fruits. Although it is in a different area of Costa Rica, these plantations still use sustainable practices. For example, after bananas are harvested, the banana stems are cut and used as fertilizer for the new plants.

Bananas are clones of each other, making them very susceptible to disease and fungus. Those who produce Chiquita bananas use chemicals to prevent disease, but this is not sustainable, as it destroys the land. Here, they have 18 different types of bananas to mitigate these effects — if one variety is affected by a disease, there are still 17 other varieties. Similarly, pineapple plantations that do not use sustainable practices use herbicides to prevent disease. However, the plantation we visited places plastic on the ground around the plants, helping to avoid erosion, reduce the temperature of the soil, and prevent weeds from growing around the plants.

The workers at both of these plantations work extremely hard. Those at banana plantations have to chop down a bunch of bananas, hook them on a wire, and run to chop the next bunch. At pineapple plantations, the workers can plant around 7,000 baby pineapples per day. If I was a plantation worker, I would want to work on a coffee plantation because the work is less strenuous.