The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean

339 Pages·1998·1.37 MB·English

by  Lawrence S. Grossman

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title: The Political Ecology of Bananas :
Contract Farming, Peasants, and
Agrarian Change in the Eastern
Caribbean
author: Grossman, Lawrence S.
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
isbn10 | asin: 0807824100
print isbn13: 9780807824108
ebook isbn13: 9780807861820
language: English
subject Banana trade--Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Contracts,
Agricultural--Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines.
publication date: 1998
lcc: HD9259.B3S174 1998eb
ddc: 338.1/74772/09729844
subject: Banana trade--Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Contracts,
Agricultural--Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines.
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The Political Ecology of Bananas
Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean
Lawrence S. Grossman

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Page iv
© 1998 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines
for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grossman, Lawrence S., 1948-
The political ecology of bananas: contract farming,
peasants, and agrarian change in the Eastern Caribbean /
Lawrence S. Grossman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8078-2410-0 (cloth: alk. paper).
ISBN 0-8078-4718-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Banana tradeSaint Vincent and the Grenadines. 2. Contracts,
AgriculturalSaint Vincent and the Grenadines. I. Title.
HD9259.B3S174 1998
338.1'74772'09729844dc21 97-40002
CIP
02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1

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Page v
To Mina

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Page vii
Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Abbreviations xix
Introduction. Political Ecology and Contract Farming 1
One
The History and Contemporary Context of the Windward Islands Banana Industry 34
Two
Environment, Capital, and the State in Banana Contract Farming 60
Three
St. Vincent: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives 87
Four
Life in a Banana-Producing Village 108
Five
The Labor Question 124
Six
The Food Question 153
Seven
The Environmental Question 188
Conclusion 208
Notes 223
Bibliography 237
Index 259

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Page ix
Maps and Figures
Maps
1. St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2
2. St. Vincent 50
3. Topography of St. Vincent 94
4. Food and Banana Gardens, Sample of Households 181
Figures
1.1. Windwards Banana Exports, 1954-1996 40
1.2. Banana Prices for Farmers, Adjusted for Inflation, 1964-1994 45
1.3. Exchange Rates, EC Dollar to British Pound, 1976-1996 48
2.1. Banana Prices, Current and Real, 1964-1994 71
2.2. Banana Quality, St. Vincent, 1983-1996 72
3.1. St. Vincent Trade Deficit, 1955-1993 89
6.1. Food Imports into St. Vincent, 1956-1993 155
6.2. Poultry Imports into St. Vincent, 1970-1994 157
6.3. Banana Exports and Food Imports, St. Vincent, 1970-1994 158
6.4. Percentage Increase in Cost of Foods, St. Vincent, 1964-1990 169
6.5. Provisions Production, St. Vincent, 1977-1989 171

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6.6. Provisions Exports from St. Vincent, 1989-1994 173
6.7. Monthly Banana Sales, Sample of Households, 1989 176
6.8. Monthly Banana Exports by SVBGA, 1989 177

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Tables
1.1. Characteristics of the Windward Islands Banana Industry, 1992 54
2.1. Environmental Disasters Affecting the Windward Islands Banana Industry 63
2.2. Number of Windstorms Causing Sufficient Damage for Holdings to Qualify for
Insurance Benefits 64
2.3. British Aid to the St. Vincent Banana Growers' Association 76
2.4. Number of Growers, by Amounts Sold, 1992 80
2.5. Ratio of Extension Agents to Active Banana Growers, St. Vincent, 1987-1994 81
2.6. Fruit Quality Defects Specified, 1993 83
2.7. SVBGA Pricing Structures, 1994 and 1996 84
3.1. Area under Bananas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 1981-1992 91
3.2. 1985/86 Agricultural Census of St. Vincent and the Grenadines 92
3.3. Distribution of Land Area according to Slope Classes on St. Vincent 95
3.4. Distribution of Land on St. Vincent, 1895 102
4.1. Differences between Male-Headed and Female-Headed Households, Sample
Households 112
4.2. Relation between Wage Labor and Landholdings, Restin Hill 113
4.3. Distribution of Control over Agricultural Land, Restin Hill 115
4.4. Differences in Agricultural Holdings, by Gender, Restin Hill 116
4.5. Distribution of Land under Various Forms of Tenure, Restin Hill 117
4.6. Distribution of Number of Plots Controlled by Agricultural Households, Restin Hill 120

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4.7. Distribution of Size of Agricultural Plots, Restin Hill 121
4.8. Relation between Landholdings and Agricultural Patterns, Sample Households 122
4.9. Livestock Holdings, Restin Hill 123
5.1. Duration of Systems of Harvesting and Packing Bananas 145
6.1. Length of Time to Harvest Major Food Crops 161
6.2. Length of Time Provisions Can Be Left in Ground after They Are Ready for
Harvest 163
6.3. Nutritional Comparison of the Costs of Imported and Locally Produced Foods, 1989168
6.4. Seasonality of Banana-Related Activities, Sample Households 178
6.5. Relationship between Land Use and Distance from Residences, Sample Households 182
6.6. Relationship between Land Use and Slope, Sample Households 183
7.1. Distribution of Number of Pesticides Reported Used in Restin Hill, by Household,
from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989 198
7.2. Number of Households in Restin Hill in Which Members Reported Using Various
Pesticides, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989 199
7.3. Pesticide Use on Selected Food Crops in Restin Hill, from July-August 1988 to July-
August 1989 200
7.4. Female Use of Pesticides in Households That Included Adult Males and Adult
Females, Restin Hill, from July-August 1988 to July-August 1989 202

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Page xiii
Preface
My understanding of the significance of changes in the banana industry in the
Windward Islands of the Eastern Caribbeanand of agrarian transformations
more generallystems not only from long-term field research in developing
countries but also from my brief experience as an industrial laborer at a paper
factory in Philadelphia in the summer of 1967. My assignment was simple. For
eight hours I had to stand in front of a large machine that held a very thick roll
of heavy construction paper approximately nine feet across. As the machine
continuously dispensed the paper from the roll, two razor-sharp blades cut the
material into three equal-sized sheets, which came flying onto a metal table in
front of the machine. As the speed of the machine was quite rapid, the sheets
would end up in a haphazard heap unless someone was there to stack them
into a neat pile. That is where I came in. Thus, at the table I had to position
each sheet quickly and carefully into a neat pile that could then be bundled for
shipment by someone else in the factory. Being new, I could handle only one
pile at a time. The person working next to me at the table, a veteran of eight
years at the plant, was able to stack two piles at a time, one with each hand.
That is what we did for eight hours. Although factory employees have jobs that
certainly vary in their content and scope, what I did was typical for what the
industrial literature describes as a "deskilled" factory worker in a mass
production settingperforming only a very small portion of the overall
production process in a monotonous, repetitive task that did not requireand
indeed my employers did not wantcreativity. Others in the company had
designed the industrial process; I simply carried out their directives. My
experiences at a chemical factory later that summer provided relatively similar,
though somewhat more hazardous, experiences.
What does this have to do with agriculture? A major theme today in the
agrarian literature generally and on contract farming in particular is to examine
changes in contemporary agriculture through the lens of the industrial
restructuring literature because there are supposedly significant parallels between
the two realms. This book argues that such an endeavor is misguided. Rather, I
assert that labor processes in agriculture and industry are fundamentally
different. Agriculture requires a much more creative set of responses in the
pro-

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