Standing in their starch blue uniforms, a little too big for their tiny bodies, the pupils of the Finca La Estrella estate school, in the Costa Rican Guapiles, obediently line up to have their picture taken. Although slightly baffled by the attention, they smile for the camera.

This is the social-welfare face of the Costa Rican banana industry; the Finca La Estrella estate, which supplies Chiquita, is a model example of plantation owners taking care of their workers with medical facilities, free housing, a community centre and above minimum wages.

The industry has also made worthy efforts to reduce environmental pollution with the opening of recycling centres and dedicated research to find alternatives to pesticides to help control diseases.

But it all costs, and the National Banana Corporation of Costa Rica, Corbana, wants the UK consumer to understand this in the hope they will choose Costa Rican bananas over other countries of origin. There is even talk of a UK and Europe-wide campaign to raise awareness of the good work the banana industry is engaging in to support workers.

However, the plantation owners Corbana represents have a mighty challenge on their hands, not least because they choose not to sign up to Fairtrade certification with its instantly identifiable logo.

Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative and Waitrose are committed to only sourcing Fairtrade bananas, locking Costa Rica out of three major UK supermarkets. Asda and Tesco are similarly under pressure to follow that path, and Costa Rica has slipped to being the third-largest supplier of bananas to the UK, according to Banana Link.

Yet at the same time, the supermarkets have been engaged in an almost 10-year price war on bananas, inevitably putting the squeeze on producers, who have had to look to reduce their own costs in order to meet the supply demands of British buyers.

Corbana claims its Latin American neighbours Ecuador and Guatemala have met such price demands with exploitation of workers, low wages and lack of health and safety along with a disregard for environmental standards.

The problem for Costa Rica is that it has had to fight against claims from Banana Link and the GMB Union that trade union oppression is rife within the banana industry.

At the Bananera El Esfuerzo plantation, owner Eduardo Gómez Bodden says that Europe has the wrong impression of the way Costa Rica negotiates with its workers. “We need the workers, the workers need the company – we have our own way of organising labour unions,” he explains.

Although trade unions are legal, plantation owners prefer to deal with the other government-backed option Solidarisimo, a form of credit union through which they make “direct agreements” with the workers.

Corbana’s official response is: “Our constitution and labour law guarantee all types of organisation of workers, such as unions, permanent committees, employee associations, co-operatives, credit unions, solidarity employee associations, mutual associations, civil associations etc. Currently, there is a low number of unions in the banana plantations, but it is a historical fact throughout the country, not a prohibition or impediment to the banana companies.”

The Costa Rican industry is also battling for a place in a declining market, with UK sales of bananas down by £5.6 million, despite the fruit being cheaper than 20 years ago.

During a tour of his plantation, which supplies Tesco, Gómez Bodden speaks of his frustration with the price of bananas. “We see in the market, especially in America and Europe, prices for apples go up, pears go up, grapes go up but prices for bananas remain practically the same for 30 years – it’s a little more than unfair,” he says.

“Production costs keep going up, salaries increase every six months and then we had a large re-evaluation of our currency, so less money. We need the consumers to know that we need more money to produce efficiently.” For Gómez Bodden, one of the solutions is to increase productivity and to get more out of each banana plant, with Tesco taking the best of the bunches, then the Class II fruit shipped to “anyone that will give us a good price.” “We’re trying to take advantage of the whole stem. In Ireland they like a very short finger, so rather than throw it away we can send it there, that’s what we’re working on. Nothing is wasted.”

The Costa Rican banana industry has been helped by the World Intellectual Property Organization awarding it geographical indication status, which will mean the efforts of farmers at an environmental and social level will be better recognised.

The vice minister for foreign trade, Fernando Ocampo, says that it will give the country the opportunity to differentiate not just bananas but all its export products.

“The process with Corbana is part of a broader campaign trying to differentiate our products,” he adds. “Other countries have been growing on the exploitation of resources. In the case of Costa Rica, the people decided not to exploit national resources. We are proud of that.

“We want to create a consciousness in the consumer that when they want to buy a banana they know the history of that banana and in the case of Costa Rica, that it has been produced without exploitation.”

This is yet another challenge for Corbana, as the multinational companies such as Dole and Chiquita source from all over the banana-producing world and may not necessarily want to align themselves with one country.

Corbana is optimistic about the future of the industry, and assures that it will continue down the path of advancing workers and environmental protection. “Costa Rica has changed considerably in the past 20 years,” says Gómez Bodden. “We just need the UK consumer to make a conscious decision to buy Costa Rican bananas.” —

We see in the market – especially in America and Europe – that prices for apples, pears and grapes go up but remain the same for bananas

PRESIDENT BACKS BANANA TRADE

Costa Rica’s first female president, Laura Chinchilla, expressed her views on how the banana industry could communicate with the UK consumer during an interview with FPJ’s Samantha Lyster (pictured).

“What is very special about Costa Rica is that even though we are a very small economy we have been able to grow based on two things – social responsibility and environmental protection.

“We are now looking at more effective ways of promoting our products. We are very good at promoting eco tourism; when people think of eco tourism they think of Costa Rica. “We need that same kind of communication campaign when it comes to promoting products in foreign markets.

“We are looking first to the private sector for that but also I take any kind of opportunity I have to talk about my country when we travel. The issue of how to differentiate bananas when what you see is the Chiquita label, it’s a challenge but one we will rise to.” —