by Rod Hughes

Apparently, Mother Nature is throwing curves at Costa Rican meteorologists. Weathermen predicted that rains would begin earlier this year, in April instead of May. And they did, for about three or four days in mid-April. Then the sun came out and stayed out.

The first to feel the drought were the beans. Rice and beans are as important to the Central American diet as bread is to, say, Italians or French diners. Now, the banana crop begins to feel thirsty. Lack of water does not kill the plant as it does beans but the all-important flowers that herald the coming of a stalk (racimo in Spanish) do not mature and the mother plant sends up no shoots, hoarding its precious moisture.

To the weekend tropical gardener this is hardly worth more than a casual comment but for plantation owners it is a serious matter. During the first four months of this year, banana growers have lost an estimated four million boxes valued at a total of $26 million. (Each 18.45-kilo box brings in $6.45.)

The loss amounts to 12% of the 34 million boxes that farming companies had envisioned for the first four months of the year, based on last year’s production. And that 12% is simply the average. Some areas have had only slight losses while in the Limon area, it is a 45% deficit and in cantons such as Pococi, losses reach 35%. (Nearly all the nation’s bananas are exported from the Caribbean area and the losses hit hard in traditionally some of the poorest zones in the country.)