Little Girl

All the bad bananas

Plastic bags on the bananas

Chiquita is a Spanish word used to describe a little girl.
The Chiquita banana plantation that is in Costa Rica has been practicing to be more sustainable for four years with the Nature and Community Project. The Chiquita plantation has tall bushes around their plantation to keep pesticides inside the plantation. There are signs around the plantation that say keep out when they are spraying the pesticides. Chiquita uses harmful pesticides and the workers that have more contact with them have to get blood tests every three months to make sure they have proper levels. Unlike many other plantations in Costa Rica, Chiquita takes proper care of their workers and it is their number one priority to keep their workers safe from the pesticides. All workers are trained in appropriate agricultural practices, occupational safety and proper use of protective equipment.
How Chiquita packs their bananas: Banana stems arrive at the packing station where they are counted, weighed, and examined by quality inspectors. Plastic bags and twine are separated and compacted to be recycled. In the dehandling area, banana hands are cut off the stems and placed into water tanks. The fruit that meets Chiquita specifications is cut into clusters of four to eight bananas. Bananas with blemishes are processed into puree, and the rest is sent to organic waste composting trenches. The fruit is washed in water tanks for ten minutes to eliminate latex residues that can stain the fruit. Water that leaves the tanks passes through a solid waste trap, which prevents solids from reaching the water drainage systems. Clusters of bananas weighing a total of 18 kg (40 lbs), the equivalent of a box, are placed on trays where workers gently affix the Chiquita labels. The tray is passed through a final shower to seal the cuts and prevent crown rot. The fruit is packed and weighed. Boxes are placed on pallets and stamped with a traceability code. Recycled plastic strips protect the corners of the boxes. Plants are placed in containers, which are loaded into Chiquita´s great white fleet ships and transported to the various markets.
The Nature and Community Project is a joint effort by Chiquita, the Swiss retailer Migros, GTZ, Rainforest Alliance and the local community to preserve 100 hectares (250 acres) of rainforest, promote environmental awareness through education and provide additional income opportunities for the community. The Nogua Group is one of the small businesses created to generate income for this community. This group is the one that did a play presentation for us.
Chiquita employs 25,000 people and owns approximately 37,000 acres of banana farms in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Workers in Chiquita farms enjoy higher living standards than other agricultural workers.
Although Chiquita is not 100% sustainable they are trying to make a better situation with what they are doing. The fertilizers they use are approved by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union regulatory authorities. Since 2000, Chiquita in Costa Rica has achieved 100% Rainforest Alliance certification.
Another thing that Chiquita does to be more environmentally responsible is that is has protected land close to their plantation that is connected to other protected areas. It also has planted at least one million trees along rivers, lakes, roads, and residential areas.
With expanding liabilities, in the future Chiquita may be liable for destroying Costa Rica's environment from pesticides. Chiquita introduced bananas into an environment that cannot handle them so they force bananas to work by using pesticides which makes bananas a damaging plant.