Today, we visited the Plantain and Banana plantation and the pineapple plantation. The focus today was on the sustainability of these farms. For example, at the banana plantation, we cut down our own fruit and made it for our lunch, and then the guide explained how the chopped-down tree was for fertilizer. Additionally, other plants were grown on the plantation to maximize their land space. We also learned that there are over 1000 kinds of bananas, but only one is sold in supermarkets by Chiquita. With this being the case, only one kind of banana is grown in bulk. The risk is that one disease can spread and kill all the plants, meaning no more bananas. To combat this, large corporations like Chiquita use pesticides to ensure this doesn’t happen, which is less sustainable and worse for the environment. In this case, it is similar to some of the coffee plantations but different than Sibo Chocolate. Additionally, with the growing use of sustainable fertilizer (such as at Cafe Monteverde), coffee is becoming more environmentally friendly than bananas.
For pineapples, we learned that different plantations look different whether they are organic or not. Today, we visited an organic plantation that used natural fertilizer twice a week on the crops and also used pineapple scraps as part of their fertilizer, thus increasing their sustainability. We learned that animals, bugs, and even people pose threats to pineapple plants, which are some risks that must be accepted to keep organic pineapples.
Climate change affects bananas and pineapple growth since it disrupts the rainy season in Costa Rica. This leads to less rain, which means fewer crops grow, and the price of these exports can rise. Coffee plantations were dealing with similar issues, showing a continuity of using sustainable practices to save the environment. Finally, Pineapples and Bananas are also available to harvest all year round, unlike coffee, which comes in different picking times. Therefore, I’d rather work in banana and pineapple plantations since it offers more opportunities to make money. Between the two, I would choose banana harvesting despite how heavy the bunches are. The distance needed to carry them is less, they’re easier to harvest, and they aren’t spiky.