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industry
provides
direct
employment
for
10,255
people,
(International
Labour
Organization,
1999A).
As
The
Economist correctly puts it, the Windward Islands are the true banana
republics (The Economist 1997-98, 2). Peasants produce bananas in the
Windward Islands. Over 80 percent of the banana-producing units are less
than five acres (Myers, 2004) and, as Table 1 indicates, in three of the four
of these islands the mean farm size is less than two acres.
The model of banana production used in the eastern Caribbean makes it
different from that used almost anywhere else in the world., It differs in
scale, landscape, tenure systems, trading patterns and the nature of the
farmer themselves, These characteristics are a function of the countries
histories being one of foreign domination but also a function of the nature
of the society itself. One would be surprised however that Latin American
threaten the privileged status of the plantocracy that still dominated the
economies (Wiley, 2008; Grossman L. , 1998). This caused the UKs
colonial office and Imperial Committee on Marketing to issue a report
suggesting that a successful fruit trade could be developed between the
UK and its small windward island colonies (Myers, 2004). This they
rightfully
thought
would
create
jobs;
alleviate
poverty
and
the
unlimited importation of bananas and this along with several aid programs
and is what helped the industry to grow in the eastern Caribbean and to
get a foothold in the British market (Mandel, 1999; Wiley, 2008; Trouillot,
1988).
System of Production
The small farmer stands at the heart of the Caribbean banana industry, as
such Wiley and Grossman in their pieces have alluded to the fact that this
make him the backbone of the national economies of the four islands that
produce bananas, but certainly at the backbone of the industry. Therefore
when one examines the system of banana production in the Caribbean it
is easy to make very simplistic assumptions about exactly why the system
evolved the way it did. In the four banana producing countries there are
approximately 25,000 (or 54% of the national workforce)people working
directly on the growth of bananas, most growing on plots that are
approximately 5 acres in size the larger plot holders grow on plots
approximately sixty to seventy acres in size (Grossman L. , 1998; Myers,
2004). One would be tempted to generalize about the efficiency of this
type of piece meal production system and would advocate for larger
amalgamated farms such as what exist in Latin America or the Pacific.
However, the production system that developed in the eastern Caribbean
developed for two primary reasons; the first is the general topography of
the lands. In the banana producing countries of the eastern Caribbean the
terrain is rugged, the landscape carved by steep hills and enormous
valleys, most of the banana production that is done on hillsides and
the plantations and went into urban areas, others had managed to gain
control over the small parcels of land they had used to grow their food,
often as renters, squatters, or sharecroppers, if not as titled owners. These
land parcel units became smaller over time due to land fragmentation
when being passed from one generation to the next (Wiley, 2008). The
transition from estates to smallholdings continued into the twentieth
century when less profitable plantations were broken up and redistributed
to the growing peasantry adding to the ranks of the smallholder sector.
Post emancipation and societal changes were complex and again
reshaped the face of the region but one thing remains clear, that land had
a particular significance to the smallholder population in the Caribbean
(Trouillot, 1988). For many it was a means of securing an income, an
insurance policy of sorts to prevent themselves and their families from
slipping into poverty and ensuring that they can feed themselves
(Bebbington, 1999). It was a means of family heritage, and for others a
symbol of independence and wealth, the chances that the small holders of
the eastern Caribbean were going to forfeit these rights to MNC`s to allow
the land to be taken and amalgamated was unheard of. Moreover, this is
why the labour situation in the Caribbean was so much different from
Latin America. This significant class of independent small holders arose
during the decades after abolition of slavery and held on to the land until
peasant times. Most had no desire to enter into wage labour relationships
preferred by large fruit TNCs. The Economist writes that peasant banana
cultivation ...is thought to bring with it certain self-esteem (The
Economist 1997-98, 2). Michael Joseph agrees, noting that with the small
owner-regime in bananas, the descendants of slaves, once relegated to
menial roles, have gradually acquired the spirit of free enterprise.
So
and
management
skills
have
been
suggested
as
producing fruit for the EU market as such these poor, independent farmers
acting alone cannot ensure that their fruit reaches consumers in the EU
market. The name of this association indicates that it is an organisation
run by growers that operate on their behalf to fulfil many functions that
would be impossible for individual farmers to accomplish on their own.
They play a role in coordination of the growing and production process
and as a collective voice for farmers at the regional and international level
(Wiley, 2008). In the eastern Caribbean, they also perform the role of the
guaranteed market, which is very crucial to the survival of the industry
(Grossman, 2003). In addition to shipping arrangements and generating
payments to the farmers, the BGA`s also does bulk purchasing of the
inputs for the industry, sometimes in a regional level to get better
pricings. These inputs include fertilizers, pesticides, herbicide boxes, white
lime etc (Wiley, 2008; Reynolds, 2003). These items are sold on credit and
applied to the cess, the term used for the sum of money deducted from
the payments made by the BGAS to the farmer after the fruit has been
delivered (Wiley, 2008; Grossman, 2003). Finally, the BGA`s in the
respective islands often choose to pay farmers a standard market price
when the world price for bananas falls
highlights the critical importance the institution plays in buffering the local
industries from external global shocks in price due to market gluts or
scarcity . And so would be the first body to feel the effects of the liberal
policies handed down on the eastern Caribbean producers in the wake of
the 1998 and 2004 World Trade Organisation ruling, and it would also be
the body that would directly feel the effects if farmers began turning away
from the industry for what they saw as more viable livelihood strategies.
Preferential Access and the WTO : The Onset of Disaster
Until the 1990 access to the European banana market were structured
around a set of preferential trade agreements granted to the former Africa
Caribbean and Pacific countries under the first LOM agreement of 1974.
According to Reynolds in 1993, a single EU banana market was
established by consolidating earlier privileges under a complex tariff
quota system designed to make it difficult for non-commonwealth
producers to gain access to the EU market.
of dollar bananas, and this generates the needed monies to keep the
industries in the eastern Caribbean afloat and preventing the society from
falling into disarray due to joblessness (Grossman L. , 1998; Mandel,
1999).
This preferential and lifesaving system was thrown into disarray when in
1994 Chiquita launched and attack that escalated into a fully fledged
trade war (Myers, 2004; Reynolds, 2003). In 1994 Chiquita charged that
the EU violated US laws by discriminating against US corporations, an
using its tremendous political clouts was able to lobby the US government
and the WTO charging that the EU regulations discriminated against US
banana corporations and against dollar banana producing countries
because they were not given favourable export shares. To rally its cause
the US trade offices recruited Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico
to sign the WTO petition. In 1997, the WTO rules that the banana
regulations did violate international free trade agreements both in
granting preferential licenses to traditional ACP importers and in allocating
preferential quota shares to the Latin American countries that signed the
1995 agreement (Reynolds, 2003; Myers, 2004). The EU revised the
banana regulations in 1999, maintaining existing tariffs and ACP dollar
banana quotas for top suppliers and import licenses for major distributers.
Chiquita rejected this proposal and the case went back to the WTO, who
again rules against the EU and authorised the United States to impose
some 191 million dollars in trade sanctions against European Imports, the
authorization was further granted to Ecuador who as granted some 202
million dollars in sanctions against European imports.
In 2000, the EU
the
which people make a living and build their worlds. Bebbington argues that
it is important to have a wide conception of the resources that people
need to access in the process of composing a livelihood, perhaps
especially in a context where peoples livelihoods shift from being directly
based on natural resources, to livelihoods based on a range of assets,
income sources and product and labour markets. Hence this framework
thus understands these assets not only as things that allow survival,
adaptation and poverty alleviation: they are also the basis of agents
power to act and to reproduce, challenge or change the rules that govern
the control, use and transformation of resources.
With this background in mind, Myers notes that because of the WTO ruling
there has been a massive exodus of growers from the industry, he
estimates that the numbers actually declined from about 24,000 in 1992
to 7000 in 2002 as growers became discouraged by the low process and
the constant threat to the community regime. The biggest exodus came in
2001 when there was a double blow resulting from low prices in 2000 and
losses from a drought led 4000 farmers to give up banana production. It is
notes that this exodus was not the result of a planned scheme of
rationalisation based on early retirement or diversification but in
spontaneous and individual grower reaction to falling returns and
diminishing prospects.
Many of the farmers that stayed in the industry resorted to part-time work
or other sources of earnings. Grossman discovered in St Vincent that
many smallholders began doing wage labour to augment family incomes,
with one or more family members seeking off farm employment at least
on a part-time basis. Trouillot argues that this strategy is a function of
small land holding size and is a continuation of, rather than a departure
from subsistence level consumption patterns. Many turned to alternative
crops or subsistence farming. Although no official figures exist, the
literature suggests that the tourist trade has absorbed a substantial
number of the workers that have left the industry, as it is the emerging
industry on the islands. Others who have been unable to find jobs have
remained unemployed, while others migrated or indulged in illicit pursuits
like drug trafficking.
Clearly as we have seen from some of the ex-banana workers, some of the
smallholders have been able to continue making a living in the rural areas
without going to the urban areas as other rural livelihood options
emerging that also address household material and human needs.
However, Bebbington offers some additional insight into some of the
industries that he feels might be useful in keeping the rural poor
employed. Important insights into the possibilities for improved rural
livelihoods have come from a body of work influenced more by
Chayanovian and Boserupian theories of peasant economy than by more
Marxian positions. It suggests the emergence of what we had seen
emerging in the Dominican and Vincentian countryside being the rise of
the so called capitalized family farms'' or CFF`s farms which constituted
successful cases of accumulation and intensification in the household
peasant economy. These were farms that emerged among the small
holders instead of the mid-sized peasantry as in Latin America, in that
sense were the empirical precursor to the notion of ``viable'' units.
Common to the success of many of these CFFs have been: an ability to
access land, finance and at times labour; an ability to gain a niche in
higher value product markets; and the presence of different types of
supportive state policy.
The movement away from the banana industry has not necessarily led to
the end of rural livelihoods. A significant growth feature has been the
growth
of
rural
proletariat
working
on
smallholder
agricultural
enterprises. The rise of fruit and vegetable production for sale on the
international and regional market brought particular attention to this
phenomenon, but elsewhere the emergence of strong non-traditional agriflori- and horticultural sectors has similarly given rise to rural work forces
elsewhere: such workers are sometimes urban based, and in other cases
are members of peasant families. In many cases, this proletarianisation
does not lead to more sustainable livelihoods, especially when wages are
low and health hazards high because of the use of agrochemicals in such
enterprises.
Such
jobs
however,
can
at
times
resolve
the
rural
absent,
the
principal
livelihood
adaptation
has
been
Conclusion
From the literature, certain new factors have now become apparent. The
non-competitiveness of the Caribbean industry has now gone beyond the
ability of the industry to receive copious amounts aid and preferential
access, but also additional factors need to be included, these are
management issues, soil and attitudinal adjustments. The ILO argues that
In order to cope, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines will have to embrace globalization. In the necessity of finding
work for former banana farmers, it will be imperative that they attract
capital from abroad and that they have access to markets as extensively
as possible. In addition, this will have to be taken seriously if the industry
is going to be able to re-attract the thousands of farmers that leave the
industry every year for better pay or out of frustration. Governments and
persons in authority will have to take the hard decisions to spend more
monies on making the system of production more efficient so that it may
be more competitive on the world market and keep Caribbean small
farmers employed.
Bibliography
Bebbington, A. (1999). Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing
Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty: World Development,. World
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Gordon, M. (2004). The Role of Emigration in the Caribbean Development
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Grossman, L. (1993). The Political Ecology of Banana Exports and Local Food
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Appendix
Country Number
of Active
Growers
Country
Cost
Dominica
515
Grenada
503
Ivory Coast
469
St Lucia
463
St Vincent
461
Cameroon
440
Jamaica
391
Colombia
200
Costa Rica
179
Ecuador
162
Table 2: Costs per Ton of Banana Production $US
Source: Orchard et al, 1997, 25