Environmental Impacts of Planting Bananas
- The growing of bananas has major environmental impacts.Jeremy Maude/Photodisc/Getty Images
The planting and cultivation of bananas is often the principal agricultural activity of many Latin American, Caribbean, and African countries. Although bananas are of major economic importance in the countries from which they are exported, the environmental impacts of planting bananas must be considered. These impacts range from the loss of valuable rainforest biodiversity and a decline in soil fertility to increased rates of pesticide poisonings in humans. - Most bananas are grown on large plantations as monocultures on land formerly covered by rainforest. Tropical rainforests house a majority of the planet's biodiversity, making any loss of rainforest cover a critical issue. Banana plantation monocultures also cause soil fertility and quality to decline; additionally, large-scale, one-crop operations create an ideal breeding ground for viruses, pests and fungi. This, in turn, creates a greater need for the use of agrichemicals and fertilizers that can cause chemical contamination, affecting wildlife, water and human health.
- Pesticides and herbicides are used in large quantities repetitively throughout the banana growing and packing cycle. Wells and rivers around banana plantations are often contaminated, causing fish kills and other fauna loss. Toxic residues, like heavy metals and organo-chlorines, are routinely found in the soil, water, sediments and fish in areas surrounding banana plantations. Toxic chemicals are also found in the discharge or waste from packing plants.
- Banana farming and packaging can generate a large amount of both biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. If biodegradable waste is improperly disposed of, it can produce pathogenic organisms and leech into the water supply. Non-biodegradable waste like plastic bags and tape, support materials, and chemical containers are often inadequately handled or disposed of. This type of waste is often simply stored, burned, dumped, or re-used by workers who are ignorant of the health threat that something like an old pesticide bucket could pose.
- Banana workers suffer from high rates of cancer and mutation; chemicals that have entered into the water table affect an even broader range of people. Poisoning deaths, burns and dermatitis from pesticides, and sterility resulting from chemicals like the now widely-banned nematicide DBCP (Di-Bromo-Chloro-Proprane) occur at high rates among workers within the banana industry.
- There are alternative methods of cultivating bananas that are more sustainable exceptions to the norm. Banana growers who operate under principles like the fair trade standards use fewer agrichemicals, reduce waste, use polyculture methods rather than harmful monoculture methods, and address worker health concerns.
