Good agricultural practices: an end point or a starting point for more sustainable banana production?

Publication date: 04/10/2018
Extent: 36 pages

Contributions by: Charles Staver, Bioversity International, France

Chapter synopsis: Bananas, a longstanding export crop, have not been immune from consumer concerns about food safety and the environmental and human health impacts of production. About half of export banana production is certified under four labels – GlobalGap, Organic, FairTrade and Rainforest – based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). GAP certification is a short-term guarantee to marketers and consumers, but GAPs have also been proposed as indicators of sustainability. Our review of the effectiveness of GAP suggests that they could become more useful by incorporating more ecological intensification indicators with economic implications. The present chapter illustrates the application of this approach in smallholder organic export banana to address not only the yield gap, but also improved synchronization between ecological processes, production routines and cost efficiency. While GAPs are an imperfect tool, they are also dynamic and open to new knowledge and practices, to make the extensive tracking and monitoring required of banana growers more effective, enabling as well better understanding of sustainable banana production.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2017.0020.14