Banana

Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of bananas – plantations stretch across the entire coastal lowland.

The banana plant is a giant herbaceous perennial, not a tree: its “trunk” is made of tightly rolled leaf sheaths, and the whole plant grows to 3–7 m. A hanging inflorescence emerges from inside the pseudostem and develops into a bunch of more than a hundred fruits. Cultivated dessert varieties such as Cavendish are seedless and propagated vegetatively from suckers. Bananas need warmth, high humidity and fertile soil, and less than a year passes from planting to the first harvest. The fruit is picked green and ripens only on its way to buyers.

Significance in the country

Since the mid-20th century bananas have been one of the pillars of Ecuador’s economy, and the city of Machala in El Oro province calls itself the “banana capital of the world”.

Where it grows

In the coastal lowland, mainly in the provinces of Los Ríos, El Oro and Guayas, as well as in Esmeraldas, Cotopaxi, Bolívar and Cañar at the foot of the Andes.

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl)