Page 118 - Ecuador's Banana Sector under Climate Change

ecuador’s banana sector under climate change: an economic and biophysical assessment to promote a sustainable and climate-compatible strategy
1. Introduction
As part of FAO’s work on climate change and food systems, a study was undertaken by its Trade and Markets Division to evaluate the impacts of climate change on Ecuador’s banana sector. The study seeks to identify various adaptation strategies to aid governments and stakeholders in their strive to develop measures to minimize the effects of climate change. Within this broad study, this chapter present the findings of a life cycle analysis (LCA) of the banana, with a focus on its carbon footprint.
Ecuador’s banana sector was selected owing to its strategic importance
within the Ecuadorian economy and the dominant position of Ecuador in global banana trade. According to a report of the Asociación de Exportadores de
Banano del Ecuador (AEBE, 2011), the banana industry represented a revenue
of approximately USD 2 146 million in 2011. The banana is Ecuador’s foremost export product and constitutes a third of worldwide banana export, at 2.5 percent of GDP and 23 percent of national exports.
The LCA includes the complete banana value chain, while the study covers the entire supply chain from banana production (including small, medium and large plantations, as well as conventional and organic production systems) to final consumption. It aims to assess the environmental performance of the supply chain and to identify the main contributors to climate change along the system (i.e. hot spots).
2. The banana life cycle: Inventory data and assumptions
This section describes the inventory data (materials and energy inputs, products, emissions and waste) associated with the various processes that are involved in the banana supply chain. It relates to those processes that take place from the planting of the banana in Ecuador to its consumption in Europe (Figure 33).
A report of the Asociación de Exportadores de Banano del Ecuador (AEBE, 2011) indicates that the principal market for Ecuador’s bananas is Europe, representing 39.8 percent of total banana exports. Since the ripening, wholesale, retail and consumption stages of the banana supply chain takes place in Spain, this analysis will relate to Southern Europe, and will complement the study by Svanes (2012) in relation to the import of bananas by Germany and Norway and that by Eitner et al. (2012) with regard to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
2.1 Banana cultivation on the farm (plantation)
The banana plant that is grown in Ecuador is usually the Cavendish variety. The plant propagates and develops from the offshoots of the mother plant and the excess offshoots are removed. The bananas are harvested nine months after planting, when bunches are cut. This procedure is repeated year after year for long periods from the same plant. Various activities take place to ensure that the size of the bunch and the number of bananas per ha is optimal. The organic waste that is generated at the harvest stage (including leaves and shoots) is left on site for natural degradation for soil fertility.
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