119:
significant concessions went to US-based companies that had the capital to purchase and develop land quickly. Companies like the Tela
Railroad Company were granted land concessions in exchange for building railroad lines. In its 1912 concession, the Tela Railroad Company received 6,000 hectares of national land (that is land that was deemed vacant) for every 12 kilometers of track they laid, on the route from Tela to El Progresso, laid out in alternate blocks on both sides of the rail lines.
71:, the region's main port, and by 1903 exports had almost tripled to over $ 900,000. Much of these exports came from the growing banana trade; between 1894 and 1903 the trade had grown almost four-fold from somewhat over 600,000 stems to over two million. Shipping capacity increased as well, from four steamers a month to the United States, to 18. The choice of US destination ports expanded from just
207:
producing one million boxes of bananas in 1976 and four million in 1977. Las
Isletas attempted to sell the fruit directly through the Union of Banana Exporting Countries at one stage, resulting in the arrest of 200 militant members of Las Isletas and a raid on the association's headquarters under pressure from the Standard Fruit Company, who feared being outlawed by the process.
17:
616:
139:" which, combined with soil exhaustion from monocrop agriculture, led to a production decline in many parts of northern Honduras. The companies sought to restore production by rerouting railroads and renegotiating concessions so to bring more virgin land into cultivation. In addition they began to replace the Gros Michel with the
127:, the La Ceiba region by Standard Fruit, and Tela and Trujillo were controlled by United Fruit's subsidiaries, the Tela Railroad Company and the Trujillo Railroad Company. By 1929, the United Fruit Company operated in over 650,000 acres (2,600 km) of the country and controlled the major ports.
232:
reported that global banana production was under threat by disease and may be wiped out within ten years if preventative measures are not taken to protect against it. Scientists from the banana industry in
Honduras responded to the potential crisis by implementing new large-scale breeding schemes in
206:
devastated some 60% of
Honduras' agricultural production, and many of the plantations had to be abandoned, seriously affecting the economy. In response, the redundant plantation workers formed the Las Isletas Peasants Enterprise, where they harvested the bananas independently and reaped the profits,
194:
and in 1901 the government gave concessions for them to use over 7,000 hectares for banana cultivation. However in practice it was impossible to protect all of this land for its given purpose and corruption saw a local military commander in
Trujillo, Colonel Gustavo Alvarez, squander 2,000 hectares
114:
which eventually became Dole. Because northern
Honduras had a poorly developed transportation network, only farms located along major streams, and the few existing railroads in the immediate vicinity of the coast could viably participate in the export trade. Thus, the steamship companies needed to
162:
and air force to protect the supremacy of the banana companies operating in the country. The growth of banana production in
Honduras soon saw the industry constituting some 88% of Honduran exports at its all-time peak, centering the economic activity of the country almost entirely on the Atlantic
219:
considered the worst in 200 years, with winds reaching 200 mph (320 km/h) and inundating land with excessive precipitation drowning many of the crops. Hurricane Mitch is believed to have destroyed over 50%, possibly as high as 80%, of the banana and coffee crops in 1998, costing an
118:
The
Honduran government, operating on Liberal economic policies that had been in place since 1876, made significant concessions of land and tax exemption to anyone who would open up agricultural land. While some Honduran producers were able to take advantage of these opportunities, the most
210:
In the mid-1990s, the
Honduran economy went into severe recession, which hit the banana and coffee industries hard and sending world prices soaring. Although the economy recovered significantly in 1996, the banana industry in Honduras was struck hard by the lasting impression of
155:, who proved to be an even greater ally of the banana companies than Sierra had been. Companies gained exemptions from taxes and permission to construct wharves and roads, as well as permission to improve interior waterways and to obtain charters for new railroad construction.
101:
In the early years of the industry, banana growers delivered their fruit to the coast where steamers from a variety of US-based shippers purchased them. However, the steamship companies gradually merged until only a handful remained, and these were soon dominated by the
98:) growing bananas, most of them on small holdings. This numerous class was able to expand production, take over communal lands and win the political struggle with cattle ranchers over land control in the early decades of the twentieth century.
134:
type of bananas, which had important characteristics that made them easy to store and ship and appealed to consumers in North
American markets. However in the early 1920s banana-producing areas began suffering from a blight known as the
175:
115:
invest in a local infrastructure of railroads that would expand the area available for cultivation. By 1902 local railroad lines were being constructed on the Caribbean coast to accommodate expanding banana production.
122:
After the first concessions in 1912, US concerns achieved more or less complete control of the productive alluvial plains of Honduras' Atlantic coast. The area around Puerto Cortés was dominated by the
237:
variety. This FHIA banana crop is resistant to major diseases and pests, but is also highly productive and efficient. The scheme in Honduras is financed by the multinational
90:
The initial growth in trade was from local banana growers. An 1899 census showed northern Honduras had some 1,000+ people in the region between Puerto Cortés and
59:
Honduras began exporting bananas in the late nineteenth century, and the trade grew rapidly. Initially, in the 1870s most banana production was confined to the
690:
63:, serious production did not begin on the mainland until about 1880. The US consul reported that in 1894 goods worth almost $ 350,000 were exported to the
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bought out the Standard Fruit Company, and concentrated on the production of bananas and pineapples under the Dole label in Honduras. In September 1974,
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Since 2000 the industry has recovered, although the country is still one of the poorest in Central America.
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accounted for some 50% of exports. Honduras produced 861,000 tons of bananas in 1999. The two corporations,
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Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States
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General Sierra's efforts to perpetuate himself in office led to his overthrow in 1903 by General
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Location of Trujillo and the Bay Islands as the centre of Honduran coastal banana production
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of land allocated to the Garifuna and give the land to the wealthy landowners.
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Haggerty, Richard and Richard Millet. "The Growth of the Banana Industry". In
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Bananos y polĂtica: Samuel Zemurray y la Cuyamel Fruit Company en Honduras
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646:(1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 18–23.
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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Race, nation, and West Indian immigration to Honduras, 1890-1940
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541:(in Spanish). Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Editorial Universitaria.
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coast region, with the economic center at the coastal city of
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Initially, Honduran producers focused on growing the
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sales amounted to US$ 287 million and along with the
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vols 75, nos 283-285 (Washington, DC, 1904) p. 1096.
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The Honduran banana industry employed a significant
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143:variety, which had some resistance to the disease.
558:. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
512:"Banana production may be wiped out in 10 years"
312:United States Monthly Consular and Trade Reports
158:At one time the American government trained the
441:. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the
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8:
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20:Bananas are one of Honduras's main exports
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260:Annis, Barbara. "Traditional Crops." In
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31:. In 1992, the revenue generated from
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112:Standard Fruit and Steamship Company
587:(3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.:
220:estimated $ 3 billion in damage.
47:are responsible for most Honduran
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614:
554:Chambers, Glenn Anthony (2010).
287:Encyclopedia Britannica Almanac
27:plays an important role in the
514:. Afrol News. January 19, 2003
1:
41:Chiquita Brands International
25:Banana production in Honduras
831:Banana production by country
439:"Honduras CIA demographics"
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633:: CS1 maint: postscript (
581:Merrill, Tim, ed. (1995).
110:, who in 1899 founded the
589:Federal Research Division
584:Honduras: a country study
488:. Nations Encyclopedia.
826:Agriculture in Honduras
537:Argueta, Mario (1989).
217:Category Five Hurricane
799:Standard Fruit Company
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147:Political Implications
94:(and as far inland as
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642:Soluri, John (2005).
443:University of Florida
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125:Cuyamel Fruit Company
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784:United Fruit Company
383:, p. 19, 25-26.
593:Library of Congress
186:workforce from the
29:economy of Honduras
486:"Honduras Economy"
200:Castle & Cooke
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22:
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700:Banana production
653:978-0-292-79683-6
629:cite encyclopedia
565:978-0-8071-3748-2
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204:Hurricane Fifi
165:San Pedro Sula
153:Manuel Bonilla
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137:Panama Disease
96:San Pedro Sula
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516:. Retrieved
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494:. Retrieved
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369:Merrill 1995
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81:Philadelphia
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744:Ivory Coast
531:Works cited
468:Soluri 2005
393:Soluri 2005
351:Soluri 2005
336:Soluri 2005
324:Soluri 2005
300:Soluri 2005
188:Bay Islands
169:Tegucigalpa
132:Gros Michel
108:New Orleans
75:to include
73:New Orleans
61:Bay Islands
820:Categories
797:(formerly
782:(formerly
773:by company
707:by country
518:August 30,
496:August 30,
453:August 30,
245:References
749:Nicaragua
662:320324239
574:663112172
198:In 1964,
141:Cavendish
795:Dole plc
780:Chiquita
734:Honduras
724:Colombia
611:31434665
547:22132366
490:Archived
447:Archived
192:Trujillo
184:Garifuna
92:La Ceiba
67:through
43:and the
739:Iceland
729:Ecuador
55:History
805:Fyffes
759:Taiwan
754:Panama
719:Brazil
714:Belize
660:
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233:a new
85:Boston
77:Mobile
33:banana
658:OCLC
648:ISBN
635:link
607:OCLC
597:ISBN
570:OCLC
560:ISBN
543:OCLC
520:2008
498:2008
455:2008
235:FHIA
190:off
83:and
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