EASTERN PERSPECTIVE: Tour of Turbana operations an enlightening opportunity
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE: Tour of Turbana operations an enlightening opportunity
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA -- With few exceptions, the women in downtown Medellin are dressed to kill.
In a four-day trip to Colombia, this was the closest threat to mankind that I witnessed.
This modern city -- overwhelmingly known in the United States for its dark association with the word "cartel" -- is very much alive, apparently safe and moving ahead.
On Aug. 9, my first full day in Colombia, El Colombiano, Medellin's daily newspaper, reported that coca acreage in the country has declined since 1997 by 50 percent, although that still leaves a lot of drugs in 2005.
Still, many good things are happening in a country that is dominated by good people working hard to make the most of its vast resources after having been so badly and consistently painted with negative associations.
The Produce News was invited by Juan David Alarcon, CEO of Turbana Corp. in Coral Gables, FL, for a tour of the vast banana growing areas on Colombia's south Caribbean coast. His motive was to let the produce world know about the many positive directions taking place in his homeland.
Turbana is owned by Uniban, Colombia's largest banana and plantain exporter. The growers who formed the cooperative were unhappy with Chiquita's price offerings in 1966, and reorganized to start independent exporting in 1969. Uniban operates from beautiful marble, wood and glass offices in a downtown Medellin skyscraper. Turbana was created to handle marketing for Uniban.
Uniban growers produce in two regions along Colombia's Caribbean coast. The company maintains an office compound in Aparatado, which is southwest of Turbo near the Gulf of Urab and not many miles from the Panama border. In the compound, Uniban has modern offices, which include 30 houses for 22 farm-working families and a handful of homes for guests. The compound is beautifully landscaped and features a pleasant dining hall, beautiful swimming pool, tennis courts and a soccer field. One reaches Aparatado by flying into a nearby small airport at Carepa, which is distinguished by being completely surrounded by banana plantations.
Uniban growers around Aparatado grow 36,000 acres of bananas. Around Santa Marta Magdalena, toward the eastern end of Colombia's north coast, Uniban growers have 9,000 acres of production. Fruit grown in the Aparatado area is shipped on barges, called bongos, to freighters anchored offshore, which is necessary due to the absence of a deep-water port. The bongos are loaded with pallets and shipped from a facility called Barcadilla Uniban Zungo in the town of Uraba. Growers in Santa Marta ship from a more traditional port.
In Colombia, where plantain acreage is about equal to that of bananas, the production framework for the two sister commodities is very different. Bananas are grown by large private growers, who have sophisticated organization and large packing plants. Plantains, on the other hand, are grown by growers with just a few hectares, who work with large packinghouses to pack and export their fruit.
Uniban's vertical integration includes not only a marketing arm but also a wide range of grower services, including an airstrip and related facilities for spray planes utilizing GPS technology to fumigate banana plantations from the industry scourge: black sigatoka.
In Uraba, Uniban owns a cavernous box plant, which is located on a second, short-finger canal a hundred yards from the bongo shipping facility. This canal is used not only for shipping boxes but also for receiving huge rolls of brown paper imported from the United States and Canada. The modern box plant uses a whole variety of modern equipment to create corrugated cardboard, cut out the required shapes, and then print fruit containers for Uniban/Turbana and private labels for customers as well as labels for other Colombian and Costa Rican packer-exporters.
In Cartagena, also on Colombia's north coast, Uniban owns a plastic plant that manufactures the millions of plastic bags used to protect bananas as they grow on the stem. The plant also makes plastic twine that is used to support each of the millions of banana plants. Another feature of Uniban's vertical integration is a shipping logistics company that arranges complex logistics for Uniban and Turbana, which ship to two ports in the United States -- Bridgeport, CT, and Freeport, TX -- and to various parts of Europe. Turbana also exports fruit directly to Russia, China and the Middle East.
Perhaps due to its grower roots and its direct connection with Colombia, Uniban is committed to developing Fair Trade banana business. With a great deal of support from Turbana, as well as the Uniban staff, some growers have already achieved the certification required for exporting Fair Trade bananas. This is currently a very small part of Uniban's total exports, but is expected to grow in the future.
In a four-day trip to Colombia, this was the closest threat to mankind that I witnessed.
This modern city -- overwhelmingly known in the United States for its dark association with the word "cartel" -- is very much alive, apparently safe and moving ahead.
On Aug. 9, my first full day in Colombia, El Colombiano, Medellin's daily newspaper, reported that coca acreage in the country has declined since 1997 by 50 percent, although that still leaves a lot of drugs in 2005.
Still, many good things are happening in a country that is dominated by good people working hard to make the most of its vast resources after having been so badly and consistently painted with negative associations.
The Produce News was invited by Juan David Alarcon, CEO of Turbana Corp. in Coral Gables, FL, for a tour of the vast banana growing areas on Colombia's south Caribbean coast. His motive was to let the produce world know about the many positive directions taking place in his homeland.
Turbana is owned by Uniban, Colombia's largest banana and plantain exporter. The growers who formed the cooperative were unhappy with Chiquita's price offerings in 1966, and reorganized to start independent exporting in 1969. Uniban operates from beautiful marble, wood and glass offices in a downtown Medellin skyscraper. Turbana was created to handle marketing for Uniban.
Uniban growers produce in two regions along Colombia's Caribbean coast. The company maintains an office compound in Aparatado, which is southwest of Turbo near the Gulf of Urab and not many miles from the Panama border. In the compound, Uniban has modern offices, which include 30 houses for 22 farm-working families and a handful of homes for guests. The compound is beautifully landscaped and features a pleasant dining hall, beautiful swimming pool, tennis courts and a soccer field. One reaches Aparatado by flying into a nearby small airport at Carepa, which is distinguished by being completely surrounded by banana plantations.
Uniban growers around Aparatado grow 36,000 acres of bananas. Around Santa Marta Magdalena, toward the eastern end of Colombia's north coast, Uniban growers have 9,000 acres of production. Fruit grown in the Aparatado area is shipped on barges, called bongos, to freighters anchored offshore, which is necessary due to the absence of a deep-water port. The bongos are loaded with pallets and shipped from a facility called Barcadilla Uniban Zungo in the town of Uraba. Growers in Santa Marta ship from a more traditional port.
In Colombia, where plantain acreage is about equal to that of bananas, the production framework for the two sister commodities is very different. Bananas are grown by large private growers, who have sophisticated organization and large packing plants. Plantains, on the other hand, are grown by growers with just a few hectares, who work with large packinghouses to pack and export their fruit.
Uniban's vertical integration includes not only a marketing arm but also a wide range of grower services, including an airstrip and related facilities for spray planes utilizing GPS technology to fumigate banana plantations from the industry scourge: black sigatoka.
In Uraba, Uniban owns a cavernous box plant, which is located on a second, short-finger canal a hundred yards from the bongo shipping facility. This canal is used not only for shipping boxes but also for receiving huge rolls of brown paper imported from the United States and Canada. The modern box plant uses a whole variety of modern equipment to create corrugated cardboard, cut out the required shapes, and then print fruit containers for Uniban/Turbana and private labels for customers as well as labels for other Colombian and Costa Rican packer-exporters.
In Cartagena, also on Colombia's north coast, Uniban owns a plastic plant that manufactures the millions of plastic bags used to protect bananas as they grow on the stem. The plant also makes plastic twine that is used to support each of the millions of banana plants. Another feature of Uniban's vertical integration is a shipping logistics company that arranges complex logistics for Uniban and Turbana, which ship to two ports in the United States -- Bridgeport, CT, and Freeport, TX -- and to various parts of Europe. Turbana also exports fruit directly to Russia, China and the Middle East.
Perhaps due to its grower roots and its direct connection with Colombia, Uniban is committed to developing Fair Trade banana business. With a great deal of support from Turbana, as well as the Uniban staff, some growers have already achieved the certification required for exporting Fair Trade bananas. This is currently a very small part of Uniban's total exports, but is expected to grow in the future.
