Changes in the Economic Geography of Banana Production in Ecuador

Resumen

importer. Bananas are the mainstay of the Ecuadorian economy, just as other tropical crops have been in the past. It is, therefore, surprising that there has been no detailed analysis of the economics of commercial banana cultivation or of the more distinctive aspects of its economic geography. James J. Parsons made a brief study of banana production in I956 and in a paper published in the following year gave a substantially correct account of some aspects of banana production in Ecuador.1 He was writing before the results of the Censo Agropecuario of I954 had been published and seems to have been able to obtain very little data about the nature of banana production in Ecuador. In addition Parsons held rather pessimistic views regarding the role of Ecuadorian bananas on the world market, particularly in relation to the North American fruit monopolies. In the eight years since that article was written a great deal of data regarding the Ecuadorian banana industry has become available, and a number of significant changes have taken place. The United Fruit Company no longer grows bananas in Ecuador; efficient methods of combatting disease have been evolved and are being practised with an impressive degree of success; and important changes in the method of exporting and in the patterns of exports have been accompanied by a sudden increase in the total exports of bananas. The present paper is intended to supplement Parsons's earlier account. Some aspects dealt with inadequately will be examined and the changes in banana production and export will be described and analysed.