The Banana Industry

From the 1950s Saint Lucia ran on bananas. Small farmers on steep hillsides grew them under a European trade arrangement that gave Caribbean fruit preferential access, the money reached villages directly rather than through a few estates, and the fruit went out weekly on ships from Castries and Vieux Fort. In the 1990s the arrangement was challenged at the World Trade Organisation, the preferences were dismantled, and the industry fell apart within a decade against Latin American plantation production. The valleys still grow bananas at a fraction of the scale, and the blue bags protecting the bunches are still everywhere.

What you actually see

• The blue bags - protecting bunches on the plants across the valleys.
• The Roseau Valley - the biggest growing area, inland from Marigot.
• The packing sheds - what is left of the export infrastructure.
• The hillside plots - small farms rather than plantations.

When to go

Year-round; bananas fruit continuously. The valleys are visible from the road and the east coast route passes through the growing areas. Estate visits are arranged rather than scheduled.

Honest expectations

This is a story of decline rather than an attraction, and there is no visitor centre or museum for it. The collapse hit rural communities hard and the social consequences are still visible. Some estates have diversified into tours; most have not. Seeing it means driving the valleys and understanding what you are looking at.

Nearby

The Roseau Valley is inland from Marigot; the Mabouya Valley is on the east.