Characteristics

- Description and technical characteristics
- Origin and history

Bananas are a very important commodity for developing countries, with a clear dual nature which complicates the analysis. They are at the same time a major staple commodity, together with rice, wheat and maize, and a fundamental export commodity. Around one fifth of globally produced bananas are exported from the developing countries to the developed countries, an example of unidirectional South-North trade. The duality is also present in production systems, where large-scale banana plantations, mainly oriented to export markets, coexist along with smallholder banana farmers.

Many issues are involved in order to make of banana a very sensitive commodity at the international level, not only on economical grounds but also on the environmental, social and political aspects. During the last decades of the XX century, the export banana sector has shown a great dynamism and has undergone very important structural changes when facing challenges such as the successive reforms of the European Union (EU) Banana Regime and the following controversial World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute or the evolving pattern of consumer preferences and food distribution channels.

Description and technical characteristics

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world. Members of the genus Musa (part of the family Musaceae), they are considered to be derived from the wild species Musa acuminata (AA) and Musa balbisiana (BB). It is believed that there are almost 1000 varieties of bananas in the world, subdivided in 50 groups. The most commonly known banana is the Cavendish variety, which is the one produced for export markets.

Bananas have very benefitial nutritional properties. They are a good source of vitamin C, B6 and A. Bananas have a high content of carbohydrates and fiber, while they are low in protein levels and fat free. They are also rich in potassium.

Source: IBA

Origin and history

There is a wide variety of historic references to bananas. They are mentioned in ancient Hindu, Chinese, Greek and Roman texts. It is believed that the earliest written reference to banana is in Sankrist and dates back to around 500 BC. Bananas are suspected to be the first fruit in the earth by some horticulturists.

The origin of bananas is placed in Southeast Asia, in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia or Philippines, where so many varieties of wild bananas still grow at present. Bananas have later travelled with human population. The first Europeans to know about bananas were the armies of Alexander the Great, while they were campaigning in India in 327 BC. In the Middle Ages, the banana was thought to be the forbidden fruit of paradise by both Moslems and Christians. The Arabs brought them to Africa. Africans are credited to have given the present name, since the word banana would be derived from the Arab finger. The Portuguese brought them to the Canary Islands. Bananas changed during all these trips, gradually losing its seeds, filling out with flesh and diversifying.

When Spaniards and Portuguese explorers went to the New World, the banana travelled with them. In 1516, when Fiar Tomas de Berlanga sailed to Santo Domingo, he brought banana roots with him. From there, bananas spread to the Caribbean and Latin American countries.

Bananas started to be traded internationally by the end of XIX century. Before that date, Europeans and North Americans could not enjoy them because of the lack of appropriate transport for bananas. The development of railroads and technological advances in regrigerated maritime tranport allowed for bananas to become the most important world traded fruit.

For more information on history of banana trade, see: United Fruit Historical Society ;The development of Windward Islands Banana Export Trade ;The Role of Demand in the Historical Development of the Banana Market, Marcelo Bucheli, Department of History Stanford University, 2001.

For detailed information on banana´s description and history visit:

- Biodiversity International
- United Fresh Produce Association
- Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
- Morton, J. 1987. Banana. p. 2946. In: Fruits of warm climates. Julia F. Morton, Miami, FL (Purdue University)
- California Rare Fruit Growers
- Saveurs du monde, bananas