Banana growers in Latin America demand fairer pay as El Niño guts harvests

Banana growers in Latin America are demanding more money for their fruit as this year's super El Niño tears through production. The Association of Banana Growers of Magdalena and La Guajira says exports from Colombia's Caribbean region fell by 32% between July and September, landing at $122m (£91m), according to the trade publication Fruitnet. September alone was brutal: shipments slid 42% year on year and earnings nearly halved, dropping to $40m from $70m.

The pain is spreading. Fairtrade Foundation research shows productivity across its farmers and workers fell by 13% in the Dominican Republic, 22% in Ecuador and 6% in Peru during the last El Niño cycle compared with the year before. High winds are battering parts of Colombia, heavy rain is soaking Peru and Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic is bracing for drought. Back in 1983, one of the strongest El Niños on record hit 15% of Ecuador's planted banana area and cut exports by 36%.

Dr Carley-Jane Stanton, Fairtrade's climate and environment lead, says this El Niño should bring heavier rainfall and stronger winds, and that producers should expect worse than the 2023-24 cycle. The growers' association warns climate losses plus weaker export earnings and currency troubles are eroding the industry's economic footing, and wants international markets to set commercial terms that reflect real production costs. Worker Ever Antonio Flores Muñoz of Colombia's Agrosiete told Fairtrade the past decade has turned scorching, with flooding and winds already causing losses, and predicted wages will fall as the risk grows.

Fairtrade wants UK legislation against unfair trading practices — low or late payments, and contracts that dump risk on farmers — so producers can invest in crops that survive severe weather and creeping pests and diseases. Some retailers have moved voluntarily: Sainsbury's, the Co-op and Waitrose source only Fairtrade bananas, which guarantee a minimum price. Fairtrade chief executive Eleanor Harrison says Britain's banana supply depends on growers having the resources to adapt and invest, adding that fair prices, climate resilience and decent work go together.

Here's the squeeze: bananas are getting harder and pricier to grow, yet supermarket prices have sat almost unchanged for nearly 40 years while fertiliser, fuel and labour costs climbed. Caoimhe Buckley, chief corporate affairs officer at major supplier Fyffes, says the sector's long-term survival can't be separated from purchasing practices and that shelf prices must reflect the real cost of production, including decent wages and climate adaptation. Research by the Ethical Trading Initiative found prices paid to suppliers in 2026 didn't even cover basic production costs for 66.7% of them.

The long game looks harsher still. Research for the Inter-American Development Bank published in 2020 suggests the land suitable for growing bananas across Latin America and the Caribbean could shrink by an average of 61% by 2050.