Our Adventure on Dole Banana Plantation

After a few road blocks along the way, we finally made it to the Dole Banana Plantation in Sarapiqui around three in the afternoon on Saturday, January 17. We were all looking forward to learning about how bananas are grown in this organic and sustainable farm. Carlos, the farm manager, was our tour guide. He broke down the tour into three segments: history, production and packaging.   

Dole logo at the farm

History

• Bananas originated from Asia
• Costa Rica started producing bananas as a commodity in 1876
•  HenryMeiggs, a Californian entrepreneur in the lumber business, constructed a railroad in Costa Rica. He brought the Chinese from San Francisco, Italians and Caribbean into Costa Rica. Along with the workers, he brought along 100 seeds of banana from Panama to supply his railroad workers with food.
• Before the railroad finished, Henry Meiggs died. His nephew, Minor Cooper Keith took over building the railroad. He soon became a pioneer in banana production in Costa Rica.
• The first batch of bananas were sent to Boston, Massachusetts



Carlos holding a banana plant

•  United Fruit Company had the power in Central America to remove the government in power if they do not agree with what United Fruit Company wanted to do

Production Process

• It rains a lot in the Sarapiqui region. A banana plant’s body has 90% water and it takes 36 liters of water from the soil.
• There are 20-30 ways of cable system to transport bananas and fertilizers around the farm
• There are 200 miles of cable around the plantation
• The bud of a banana has 14-17 female flowers at the bottom. The male flowers are on the top.
• The market requires banana plantations to use plastics during the banana production process to avoid bruising on the skin. The market wants only pretty yellow bananas. It is the standards that banana plantations have to meet.   
• There are eight ribbon colors. Ribbons are used to tie plastic bags, tells how old a branch of banana is, keeps track of the inventory of bananas in Costa Rica
• The flowers on each banana plant have to be deflowered to reduce problems with insects, avoid hurting other bananas and avoid the bananas from rotting.
• There is on average 120 workers on the farm since planting bananas is very labor intensive.
• On the third visit to a banana plant, 3 hands of bananas are removed and the bottom is pruned so that nutrients spread to the top branches. The bud is removed since it does not produce anything. One banana is left hanging at the bottom because it allows nutrients to be sent all throughout the banana plant.
• Bananas are produced from fertile seeds

Packaging Process

Rejected bananas in a basket

• Three pieces of information are recorded when bananas get to the packaging plant:

1.     Color of ribbon

2.     Weight of bananas (lb)

3.     Number of banana branches

Based on these three pieces of information, the number of boxes needed to pack bananas is calculated.

• Water is used in the packaging process to move bananas easily from tank to another, cool down bananas, and wash bananas from latex.
• Rejected bananas are sold locally, used in baby food base or as organic fertilizer in the plantation
• Bananas are packaged in a spooning shape

     Additional Information

• Banana production process is a seasonal process
• This farm is the first banana farm in Costa Rica to be ISO certified
• This farm is rainforest alliance certified
•  Dole bananas have barcode labels on them that allow customers to track the origins of the bananas
• 50% of Dole's market is in the US, while the rest is in Europe and Canada



Dole labels that have tracking capability

• This farm buys electricity from the government. They have an emergency generator that runs on diesel incase the electricity goes off.

Sustainability

Although there is mutual understanding between Dole and the end customers that plastics are contaminating products, they are used in the production of bananas to maintain quality. Bagging the banana branches in plastic bags reduces bruising, curtains insects from getting to the fruit, and serves as a micro-climate so that bananas can be released one week ahead.  

As an organic farm, they have social accountability. They care for the environment and provide social benefits to employees while producing quality bananas.    

Fun Facts

• The number 3 is key to understanding the banana production processes.
• In 1809, Minor Cooper Keith’s face was on the 100 colones coins (shows how powerful he was in Costa Rica).
• A banana plant is not a tree, it is an herb.
• 25 branches of bananas make a banana train
• #1 consumer of bananas per capita annually is Sweden: 42 pounds of banana per capita annually
• In the United States, it is 28 pounds of banana per capita annually

  

  Foam cushioning between bananas to avoid bruising

For more information, visit Dole Costa Rica.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Please follow us on Twitter.

Written by Eaindra Aung

A banana branch covered in plastic