WHAT ARE GECKHO’S ™ BANANAS AND WHAT ARE WE ON ABOUT?
Geckho’s environment friendly bananas are an initiative of a group of growers on the cool sub tropical coast of northern NSW. As a group we are concerned for our environment and the consumer of our fruit.
We aim to improve the environment for the creatures that live in our plantations by reducing chemical use as far as possible. We aim to improve the taste of our product, and we aim to give you - the consumer- a banana that is attractive and tasty, and has had the bare minimum of chemicals applied to the fruit.
We believe that the consumer is being hoodwinked by a few very large retailers, into buying a banana that is not to their satisfaction. Growers are being effectively forced by those retailers to produce a banana whose sole qualities are those of a bright, attractive appearance, and are very large. Taste is irrelevant, size and colour is what counts.
To achieve a banana that meets the criteria of these retailers, we, as growers have been forced to use chemicals to enhance the appearance of the banana, and to make it larger than it would normally be.
In effect, this means that the consumer is unknowingly buying a huge “chemically enhanced” banana. So the big retailers do very nicely out of the consumer. Why? Well most buyers are family orientated and they buy X number of bananas at any one time to suit the size of their family. You - the consumer - buy your bananas by the number, but the retailer sells them by weight.
So if you buy 6 huge “chemically enhanced” bananas and they weigh 2kg., then you pay a lot more for 6 bananas than you would have if you’d bought 6 slightly smaller bananas that weighed in at 1.5kg.
OKAY THEN, SO NOW TELL ME WHY GECKHO’S BANANAS ARE DIFFERENT.
Well most bananas sold by the really big retail chains come from the tropics. The problem with that is the banana plant is grown in a hot and quite wet environment. So if you feed it the right mix of chemicals it grows very quickly and the bunch reaches harvestable size many months before the same bunch would in the cooler sub-tropical regions of the NSW North Coast.
At certain times of the year the tropical banana is also much brighter in colour than the banana grown in the sub-tropics. But many people will tell you that the huge tropical banana does not have that “traditional” banana taste of old. It is often grown so quickly that it does not have time to develop a real banana taste. It can be bland and some consumers have reported a “chalky” aftertaste left in their mouths after eating a tropical banana.
So Geckho’s growers got together with horticultural research scientists and other knowledgeable industry leaders to see if we could do a number of things.
We wanted to get rid of the chemicals that are used solely to “cosmetically enhance” the banana, but retain those that are really necessary to obtain a good nutritious banana, and we wanted to be sure that the traditional taste of our fruit is protected and if possible, enhanced.
Bananas develop flavour with age and maturity, not unlike wine does, and the cool growing conditions of the NSW North Coast assist in that traditional flavour development. If we combine our natural climatic attributes with a significant reduction in chemical usage then we can achieve our stated aim.
After careful consideration Geckho’s growers decided to try to eliminate from their growing regime all of the chemicals whose sole purpose is to cosmetically enhance the appearance of the banana. That’s not easy but we are working on it.( More on that further down.)
ARE GECKHO’S BANANAS ORGANIC?
No, we are not organic and have no desire to become organic. What we are trying to do is reduce to the bare minimum the amount of chemicals we use to grow our fruit, while still giving the consumer a tasty, and nutritious banana.
We are, in effect trying to become environmentally feasible and acceptable. There is growing evidence that organic does not necessarily mean more nutritious. For example, the banana fruit is rich in potassium – which is essential for good health. But it is very difficult to provide enough organic potassium to the banana plant in the long term in a commercial situation to ensure that the fruit is nutritious. So organic bananas could potentially be deficient in potassium and possibly other nutrients.
Organic growers often control weeds in their plantations with 2 stroke petrol powered whipper snippers. The amount of raw 2 stroke fumes deposited into the atmosphere from these things may well be more environmentally destructive than using a low toxicity weedicide to do the same thing. Some organically based chemicals used by organic growers are also untested and thus not approved by federal authorities for use on fruit anyway.
ALL chemicals used by Geckho’s growers, whether organically sourced or not, are fully approved for use on bananas by federal authorities.
So it is not environmentally feasible or desirable for us to go organic.
Geckho’s growers are attempting to tread that fine line between organic and chemically
dependent.
SO WHAT CHEMICALS ARE GECKHO’S GROWERS ALLOWED TO USE? WHICH ONES DON’T WE USE?
Initially we are trying to eliminate systemic chemicals from our plantations, but particularly from our bunches. ( Systemic chemicals work by getting into the “system” of the plant). It is emphasised that the systemic chemicals mentioned are approved by federal authorities for use on bananas. The chemicals we do not allow at all are Omethoate sold as Folimat, Fenamiphos sold as Nemacur, Acephate sold as Orthene plus, and Oxamyl sold as Vydate. Oxamyl and Fenamiphos are used on the ground and the base of the plant and can have a destructive effect on non target desirable creatures such as geckos and other small wildlife that lives in our plantations.
Omethoate and Acephate are applied directly to the banana bunch itself.
Geckho’s growers do not use any of the above chemicals in their growing regime.
We are allowing our growers to use one systemic chemical, Bendicard sold as Ficam, a dust that is applied to the young bunch in combination with talcum powder. In some situations grubs can cause devastating losses if not controlled. We hope to eliminate Ficam as soon as possible.
Currently we can produce bunches from September 1 until January 31 each year without using any chemicals on the fruit. That means you should be able to buy a
Geckho’s banana from about the end of January through until the end of June that has not had any chemicals applied to the bunch itself.
We still have to control weeds, weevil pests, and if weather conditions are extremely humid we may have to apply a fungicide to the banana leaves to control leaf disease. (We try to avoid fungicides by removing diseased leaves before they become a problem.) If we let leaf disease go unchecked the bunch can become unusable.
Many consumers would have experienced a common problem with bananas at certain times of the year – that of a black vein in the fruit that ultimately causes the fruit to rot. This is caused by a fungus. Good shed hygiene can control this problem for most of the year but there may be times when we will have to add a fungicide to our wash down water to guarantee the quality of our fruit.
Red Spider Mites are a problem to all banana growers in the humid, late summer early winter period. We have to control them on the bunches in this period or the fruit can be inedible. To do this we dust organically (and
federally) approved sulphur dust onto the young bunch when we bag it. Usually this is sufficient to control mites without resorting to the systemic chemicals we prefer not to use. A few
Geckho’s growers in areas that have significant problems with pest damage are still using a non-systemic dust as well. We are currently encouraging the affected growers to move away from this solution and allow natural predators to build up, but we do have to accept economic and environmental reality.
All Geckho’s growers are required to thoroughly wash their fruit before consigning it. This usually removes most if not all traces of the dust.
OKAY, THERE IS A LOT OF RHETORIC IN ALL THE ABOVE.
I’VE SEEN CAREFULLY WORDED STATEMENTS OF GOOD INTENTIONS BEFORE, SO HOW DO I KNOW YOU ARE FAIR DINKUM AND ACTUALLY HAVING A GO IMPROVING ALL THESE THINGS?
There are two ways you can be sure.
- All accredited Geckho’s growers are required to sign a legally binding contract that leaves them open to criminal prosecution if they use chemicals that are not approved by
Geckho’s. Geckho’s growers cannot use ANY chemicals that are not fully approved by federal authorities for use on bananas. That is a big deterrent and to our knowledge has not been done before in the fruit industry.
All Geckho’s growers are required to have an industry approved food safety or quality assurance system in place. To the layman this means that an independent auditor visits them each year, and by a system of auditing, ensures that they record the use of all chemicals, that they have their wash down water tested regularly for bacterial contamination, and that chemical residue testing is carried out on their fruit. Certain packing shed, and personal hygiene standards are also audited.
If you wish to contact us do so at ted@geckhos.com
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