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The first commercial banana farm in the United States was established in Florida, near Silver Lake, in 1876. It is known that Ponce de Leon brought bananas to Florida in the early 1500’s. A number of independent banana farms and cultivars have been located in a number of areas, reaching as far north as the southern Midwest and Ohio River.
Banana plantations, as well as growing the fruit, may also package, process, and ship their product directly from the plantation to worldwide markets.Depending on the scope of the operation, a plantation's size may vary from a small family farm operation to a corporate facility encompassing large tracts of land, multiple physical plants, and many employees.
A banana plantation in St. Lucia. The banana industry is an important part of the global industrial agrobusiness. About 15% of the global banana production goes to export and international trade for consumption in Western countries. [1] They are grown on banana plantations primarily in the Americas. [2]
Banana cultivation is a major employer of rural labor as it is a labor-intensive industry. In Dominica, it is the second largest employer after the government, providing work for 6,000 farmers with another 700 employed at boxing plants.
Pink banana (Musa velutina) in a butterfly sanctuary in the cloud forests of Mindo, Ecuador.Production of bananas began in Ecuador in 1910. [2] However, the industry did not experience a boom until 1948, when the government of President Galo Plaza began issuing agricultural credits, tariffs, building ports and a highway on the coast, and making efforts towards pest control.
The most common practice in farming was called the "shifting plantation agriculture". This is done by using produced soil fertility and hydrological resources in the most intense manner, then relocating when yields fell, and pathogens followed banana plants.
Peasant banana producers focus their attention on the popular Cavendish banana, as these are the fruit of choice on markets in Europe. In the Caribbean, and especially in Dominica where this sort of cultivation is widespread, holdings are in the 1-2 acre range. In many cases the farmer earns additional money from other crops, from engaging in ...
While the lesion nematode is known to exact largely superficial lesions in the roots systems of banana trees, the burrowing nematode is known to be particularly devastating with potential yield reductions of 30–80%. [10] Moreover, in clinical trials, complete nematode reductions have been shown to improve banana yields by 15–275%. [1]