Rich in carbohydrates, potassium, magnesium and vitamins, the banana is the second favorite fruit of the French. But unlike the apple, on the first step of the podium, it must travel a lot before landing on our shelves ... Of the 650,000 t consumed in mainland France each year, around 200,000 t come from Guadeloupe and Martinique, the rest of 'Latin America and West Africa.
That Greta Thunberg, criticizing the ecological consequences of flights by plane, is reassured: more than 99% of bananas sold in Europe travel by boat. Only the frécinette variety, from Colombia or Ecuador, smaller and more fragile than the cavendish that floods the market, can borrow planes with passengers. "The airlines are selling the empty return to Europe to pay for kerosene," explains Jean-François Vallet, commercial director of the International Import Company, specializing in exotic fruits and vegetables.
By boat to Rotterdam or Dunkirk
At the same time, the maritime sector is going green. This is evidenced by global regulations which, since this year, have required a reduction of 85% in the maximum sulfur content of fuel oil, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. “In aircraft, the carbon impact is very high. By boat, it is less, but we must not neglect a part of transport by truck before and after the voyage at sea ”, summarizes the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe).
From Ivory Coast, the journey takes a week, from Colombia and Ecuador, between ten and fifteen days. From Peru, it takes twenty days to reach the ports of Rotterdam (Netherlands) or Antwerp (Belgium). From the Antilles, the ship, which transports automobiles, cheeses and other European products to the outward journey, crosses the Atlantic in eight days. He disembarks every Monday morning in Dunkirk (North). The tricolor banana truck journey is therefore shorter than that of its Peruvian cousins.
More and more organic
While conventional bananas can undergo dozens of treatments (pesticides, insecticides, etc.), in particular to combat fungi in tropical environments, the share of organic by volume continues to climb, going from 16.2% in 2018 to 16.8 % last year. Even Martinique and Guadeloupe, whose soils are contaminated with chlordecone, an insecticide banned in 1990, are doing it. Carrefour plans this year to sell a ton of this "Pointe d'Or", a natural variety that required twenty years of research, at more than 2 euros per kilo.
How did six West Indian producers (out of 600) convert to organic? “There are very contaminated areas, others less. Furthermore, the molecule does not reach the fruit because it does not rise more than 30 cm high. It stays in the ground and diffuses through water, ”says Marcus Hery, director of the Tropical Technical Institute (IT2).
If the organic segment is dominated by Latin American producers, the Biocoop network is doing well with its Canarian bananas, subject to very strict European regulations. These reach the port of Cadiz (Spain) in just three days. Only downside: they must travel 1900 km by truck to reach Paris, where they are sold 2.65 euros per kilo. The average price, not including organic, is around 1.60 euros.