Sustainability Issues in the Cameroon Banana Supply Chain

Abstract

Bananas are a major staple as well as an important cash crop in developing countries and the most eaten fruit in Europe and Northern America. For decades, the banana economy has been a key example of trade injustice. The concentration of power in the hands of a few multinational companies has negatively affected the lives of thousands of banana workers and small farmers. While this activity has generated a lot of profits for the multinational corporations that operate the plantations, the labourers and the communities in which these plantations are found have suffered all sorts of marginalization in the hands of the companies. It is against this backdrop that this paper sets out to make an appraisal of some sustainability issues that have gone a long way to affect the lives of both the workers and the communities in the Njombe-Penja area which is one the key banana producing area in Cameroon.