Abstract
Fair trade bananas are the latest inan increasing array of commodities that are beingpromoted by various organizations in an effort tocreate alternative production and consumption patternsto the environmentally destructive and sociallyinequitable patterns inherent in traditionalproduction and trade systems. Fair trade is touted asa strategy to achieve more sustainable developmentthrough linking environmentally and socially consciousconsumers in the North with producers pursuingenvironmentally sound and socially just productionpractices in the South. Promotion of fair tradebananas in Europe has achieved impressive initialgains on the consumer end of the commodity chain,capturing 10 percent or more of the banana trade inseveral countries. Yet in spite of these gains, thefair trade banana initiative appears to beencountering serious obstacles to its further success.We argue that the primary challenge in creating atruly alternative trade in bananas stems from thedifficulties of upholding rigorous social andenvironmental standards in the face of increasinginroads into fair trade markets by transnationalcorporations producing under less rigorous conditions.We then develop a series of options for strengtheningfair trade banana initiatives in both Europe and NorthAmerica. We conclude by arguing that the case ofbananas illuminates the general question of how toachieve more progressive and sustainable productionand consumption systems within a global system thatdrives production and consumption toward greaterintegration and homogenization under the control oftransnational corporations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Americas (1997). “Going bananas for ECO safety.” Americas(3 April) 49(2).
Arce, A. and T. Marsden (1993). “The social construction of international food.” Economic Geography69: 293-311.
Banana Link (1999a). “Better banana project hails Chiquita successes.” Banana Trade News Bulletin, May, pp. 4-5.
Banana Link (1999b). “Swiss market takes the lead in fair trade.” Banana Trade News Bulletin, July, pp. 8-9.
Banana Link (1997a). “Massive potential consumer support for EU fair trade bananas.” Banana Trade News Bulletin, Nov./Dec.,p.1.
Banana Link (1997b). “A sustainable future for banana produc-tion.” Banana Trade News Bulletin, Nov./Dec., pp. 14-16.
Banana Link (1997c). “Fair trade bananas from St. Lucia.” Banana Trade News Bulletin, July, p. 7.
Beck, U., A. Giddens, and S. Lash (1994). Reflexive Moderniza-tion. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bonanno, A. and D. Constance (1996). Caught in the Net: The Global Tuna Industry, Environmentalism, and the State. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
Bourgois, P. (1989). Ethnicity at Work: Divided Labor on a Central American Banana Plantation. Baltimore: J ohns Hopkins University Press.
Brown, M. B. (1993). Fair Trade. London: Zed Press.
Buck, D., C. Getz, and J. Guthman (1997). “From farm to table: The organic vegetable commodity chain of Northern California.” Sociologia Ruralis37(1): 3-20.
Chambron, A. and A. Smith (1998). “Bananas: Paradise or jungle?” In EFTA (ed.), Fair Trade Yearbook: Towards 2000(pp. 83-101). Gent, Belgium: Druk in de Weer.
Constance, D. and A. Bonanno (1998). “The contested terrain of global sustainable fisheries.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Portland, Oregon.
Conroy, M., D. Murray, and P. Rosset (1996). A Cautionary Tale: Failed US Development Policy in Central America. Boulder and Oakland: Lynne Reinner Publishers, and Food First Press.
EFTA (European Fair Trade Association) (1995). Fair Trade Yearbook1995[www.web.net/fairtrade/fair 6613.html].
EFTA (European Fair Trade Association) (1998). Fair Trade Yearbook: Towards 2000. Gent, Belgium: Druk in de Weer.
Fair Trade Federation (1999). “Fair trade facts” [www. fairtradefederation.com/ab_facts.html].
FAO (1999). “FAOSTAT database results.” http://apps.fao.org.
Fine, B. and E. Leopold (1993). The World of Consumption. New York: Routledge.
FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International) (1997). “Meeting of members: Banana update 9/16-17/97.” Bonn: FLO.
FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International) (1998). “Comercio equitativo: Criterios para el banano.” Bonn: FLO.
Friedmann, H. (1993). “The political economy of food: A global crisis.” New Left Review197: 29-57.
Hallam, D. and L. Peston (1997). “The political economy of Europe's banana trade.” Reading: University of Reading, Dept. of Agricultural and Food Economics Occasional Paper #5.
Lawrence, G., S. Lockie, and K. Lyons (1998). “'Healthy for you, healthy for the environment': Corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'green' foods.” Paper presented at the 14th World Congress of the International Sociological Association, Montreal.
McLean, J. (1997). Merging Ecological and Social Criteria for Agriculture: The Case of Coffee.College Park: University of Maryland, M.S. Research Paper.
Magdoff, F., F. H. Buttel, and J. B. Foster (eds.) (1998). Hungry for Profit: Agriculture, Food, and Ecology. Special Issue of Monthly Review 50(3).
Max Havelaar (1996). “International fair trade banana register, minutes 9/11/1996.” Basel, Switzerland: Max Havelaar Foundation.
Moberg, M. (1996). “Transnational labor and refugee enclaves in a Central American banana industry.” Human Organization55(4): 425-435.
Murray, D. L. (1994). Cultivating Crisis: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press.
O'Connor, J. (1998). Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism. New York: Guilford.
Purcell, T. (1993). Banana Fallout: Class, Color, and Culture among West Indians in Costa Rica.Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies Publications.
Rainforest Alliance (1999). Agrospace. New York: Rainforest Alliance.
Rainforest Alliance (1998). ECO-OK Program Project Docu-ments. New York: Rainforest Alliance.
Rainforest Alliance (ND). Project Documents.NewYork: Rain-forest Alliance.
Raynolds, L. T. (1997). “Restructuring national agriculture, agro-food trade, and agrarian livelihoods in the Caribbean.” In D. Goodman and M. Watts (eds.), Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring(pp. 119-131). London: Routledge.
Raynolds, L. T. and D. Murray (1998). “Yes, we have no bananas: Re-regulating global and regional trade.” Inter-national Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food7: 7-43.
Rosenthal, J. (1997). “Forging dreams into reality-the Equal Exchange model.” Java Jive(August) 17.
Rozyne, M. (1996). “Equal Exchange coffee.” Paper presenta-tion at the First Sustainable Coffee Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Tickell, A. and J. Peck (1995). “Social regulation after fordism: Regulation theory, neo-liberalism and the global-local nexus.” Economy and Society24(3): 357-386.
TransFair International (1996). “Report on the activities of Transfair International during 1995.” Schorndorf, Germany: TransFair International.
TransFair USA (1999). “TransFair USA: Products” [Trans-Fair USA (ND), “What is fair trade?” Oakland, California: TransFair USA.
Waridel, L. and S. Teitelbaum (1999). Fair Trade: Contributing to Equitable Commerce. Quebec: EquiTerre.
Watkins, K. (1998). “Green trade dream that can turn turtle.” The Guardian Weekly,Oct.4.
Wilkins, J. (1995). “Seasonal and local diets: Consumers' role in achieving a sustainable food system.” Research in Rural Sociology and Development6: 149-166.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Murray, D.L., Raynolds, L.T. Alternative trade in bananas: Obstacles and opportunities for progressive social change in the global economy. Agriculture and Human Values 17, 65–74 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007628709393
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007628709393