Growing Bananas in Ecuador

Other Ecuador “experts” rave about exporting handicrafts… yawn… whatever…

I don’t see many people in Ecuador getting rich from that…

Today let’s take an inside look at a great business opportunity for any Ecuador investor and the second biggest cash cow (or export product) of Ecuador (after crude oil)… banana.

This week during my current property search I found myself on a hacienda in southern Ecuador talking to the owner of a large banana farm.

He explained how the business works.

Each banana tree bears fruit only once in its life, to one “bunch” which contains around 130-140 individual bananas. Before one tree is cut the baby tree is already on its way from the same root.

The owner has 38 hectares of banana fields. Each hectare produces 30-40 boxes of banana a week (for exporting). Each box contains about 100 bananas.

Each box sells to middlemen in the port for $5.50, who then turn around and sell the product to the international buyers in the US and Europe for around $10 per box.

The owner mentioned of the $5.50 per box, about $1.50-2 is profit, which figures to be about $1700-3000 per week in profits for the farm.

He doesn't even live on the farm. He simply has one full-time farm manager, and about 20 guys who come once a week to help with the weekly harvest.

Banana farms in the same area near Machala sell for about $25,000 per hectare.

An interesting opportunity indeed.

Saludos until next week, feel free to ask me any questions about Ecuador by posting them here, glad to help,

Domenick Buonamici
Ecuador Investor, Reporter
EcuadorMeetup.com