I think banana production is also significantly less labor intensive than most other fresh fruits.
The trees grow in season-less climates where they can be planted and harvested at any time of year, so the steady work requirements can use a fixed number of workers rotating fields (contrast to seasonal harvests where a surge of workers need to be brought in for a few critical weeks, and not paid the rest of the year, so that the unavailability of year round work for the workers can turn exploitative, especially in employer-provided transportation and housing).
The actual characteristics of the plant grows a lot of fruit in bunches, where a single worker can cut off a single bunch containing 25-65 kg of fruit, and where the bunch can be subdivided easily into crates for shipping. So on a per-kilogram or per-fruit basis, the human labor tends to be much more efficient than other plants where each fruit might be picked by hand individually.
The fruit itself can ripen off the plant, and naturally comes in a tough protective exterior, which means they can be processed and shipped with minimal protections against rough handling or bruising, and don’t need much in the way of washing or waxing or things like that.
And that’s why advocates for fair wages in the banana industry correctly argue that increasing labor costs wouldn’t make bananas all that much more expensive, either. Labor is just too small a proportion of the overall cost, because the workers are so productive.
I think banana production is also significantly less labor intensive than most other fresh fruits.
The trees grow in season-less climates where they can be planted and harvested at any time of year, so the steady work requirements can use a fixed number of workers rotating fields (contrast to seasonal harvests where a surge of workers need to be brought in for a few critical weeks, and not paid the rest of the year, so that the unavailability of year round work for the workers can turn exploitative, especially in employer-provided transportation and housing).
The actual characteristics of the plant grows a lot of fruit in bunches, where a single worker can cut off a single bunch containing 25-65 kg of fruit, and where the bunch can be subdivided easily into crates for shipping. So on a per-kilogram or per-fruit basis, the human labor tends to be much more efficient than other plants where each fruit might be picked by hand individually.
The fruit itself can ripen off the plant, and naturally comes in a tough protective exterior, which means they can be processed and shipped with minimal protections against rough handling or bruising, and don’t need much in the way of washing or waxing or things like that.
And that’s why advocates for fair wages in the banana industry correctly argue that increasing labor costs wouldn’t make bananas all that much more expensive, either. Labor is just too small a proportion of the overall cost, because the workers are so productive.