The Crisis in and Future of the Windward Islands Banana Industry

without permission of the author. 2The banana industry’s economic significance in the Windward Islands can hardly be exaggerated 1. Even after a considerable downturn experienced during the 1990s, almost one-third of the arable land in these four countries is under bananas. The industry is responsible for 43 % of exports and 21 % of the gross domestic product of these islands (International Labor Organization 1999, 5). Detailed labor force data are available only for Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But the data for these two are remarkable. In Dominica, the ILO reports that the banana industry provides direct employment for 10,255 people, constituting 42.9 % percent of total employment in the country. In St. Vincent the banana industry’s importance in job creation is even greater. It provides work for 23,653 people, constituting a 70.7 percent of total employment (International Labor Organization, 1999A). As The Economist correctly puts it, the Windward Islands are the “true banana republics” ( The Economist 1997-98, 2). Bananas in the Windward Islands are produced by peasants. Over 80 percent of the banana producing units are under five acres (Orchard et al 1997, 25) and, as Table 1 indicates, in three of the four of these islands the mean farm size is less than two acres. This peasant structure gives shape to thes