by Rod Hughes

It’s no secret that people like bananas, one of this country’s most lucrative and oldest export crops. But so do a host of tropic enemies.

Insects feast on the leaves, the dread Black Sigatoka fungus kills the plant and nematodes, parasites, gnaw on the roots. To combat these enemies, plantation owners douse their farms with tons of expensive pesticides, to the detriment of the environment. But help may be coming as companies, with the help of the government, study ways and means of reducing dependence on increasingly costly chemicals

Last Novemeber a new research facility at Guácimo in Limon province was opeend by CORBANA, a public-private association that until now was dedicated only to promoting the export crop. Now, experts concur that organically grown bananas are a long way off but CORBANA researchers hope to reduce chemicals by 50% among its 100 members in 10 years. In part the effort is market-driven—customers in the European Union will pay more for bananas that are grown with less chemical content.

But it is unclear that the pesticide reduction will really result in higher product costs. Petroleum-based chemicals are rising in price. Even the costs to establish the research facility only cost $1 million to build, staff and equip. And often the raw materials with which they work will be relatively cheap—like the fungus they are studying that kills the deadly nematodes.

But Peter Krupa, The Tico Times business writer, notes that CORBANA is not the only organization trying to break the addiction to chemicals among banana farmers. EARTH University is also studying the question and Chiquita, one of the most famous companies in the field, has already reduced its chemical use by 35% over the past few years, spurred on by the environmental watchdog Rainforest Alliance. And, naturally, whatever gains are made will be assured of environmentalists’ applause.