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“I
care as much about doing things that help my soil and my water
as I do about the business end,” says Richard Ha with wife, June.
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Richard
Ha
Mauna Kea Banana Farm &
Kea’au Banana Plantation
Hilo, Hawaii
Summary of Operation
800-acre banana plantation
Pest management, smart use of water, low inputs
Problem Addressed
Banana diseases. A fungus
devastated Hawaii’s banana industry in mid-1950s, convincing nearly
all growers to shift production to pineapples and sugar cane. For
the next two decades, these tropical islands imported most of their
bananas from South America and Australia, like the rest of America.
For U.S. growers to raise healthy bananas, most rely on synthetic
fungicides and nematicides.
Background
In the 1970s, pioneers like
Richard Ha began experimenting with commercial banana-growing again.
Acknowledging a need for synthetics to combat virulent fungi and nematodes
in the super-wet climate on his island, Ha nonetheless has tried to
implement as many sustainable practices as possible to minimize erosion,
cut back on water use and, above all, reduce dependence on chemicals.
Ha’s father, Richard Sr., was a successful poultry farmer, managing
egg production from as many as 35,000 layers, and selling the mature
birds as stewing hens. Richard Jr. grew up helping with all facets of
the operation, but never really thought about being a farmer himself.
Then, when he was in college, his father offered to set aside 25 acres
for his son to use as an agricultural experiment of his choosing.
“I could already see that competition was making the business really
difficult for my father,” Ha says. “There were all kinds of problems
with the disposal of manure, so I decided to see what else I could do
that might be more sustainable and make a little money.”
Using the plentiful chicken manure he had at his disposal, Ha improved
the soil on his 25 acres and started planting banana plants with a resistance
to the killing fungus from the 1950s.
“It was really a shoestring operation back then,” he recalls. “I knew
a lot of grocers from making egg deliveries for my father, and I started
going around and asking them to save the cardboard boxes they got their
bananas in so I could re-use them.”
Hampered by a shortage of up-to-date knowledge about the best methods
for cultivating bananas in Hawaii’s warm but exceedingly wet climate,
Ha set out to experiment, document and learn from his mistakes. “It
was all I could do at the time,” he says.
Focal Point of Operation
— Sustainable banana production
Between his two farms
— one north of Hilo and one south — Ha and his crew of 70 produce and
ship an average of 7,000 boxes of bananas per week, each box weighing
slightly more than 40 pounds.
The work is labor intensive and demanding because bananas are so delicate,
Ha notes. No machines can reach up regularly and brush twigs, leaves
and other detritus from developing “hands” of bananas so as much sunlight
as possible reaches the individual fruits. The same goes for wrapping
each hand with plastic as it reaches the final stage of maturity. The
hands are still harvested by individuals, who must bring them slowly
from the fields on padded carts to minimize bruising.
At the central
packing houses, the bananas are washed, broken down into the bunches
familiar to grocery store buyers, and packed into sturdy boxes for shipment.
The growing season stretches year-round, and tending the fields is nearly
as demanding as the care of the fruit itself.
Economics and Profitability
Ha reports that the average market price in 2000 for bananas was 32
cents per pound. His business, as noted above, ships an average 280,000
pounds of bananas each week, translating to an average weekly gross
income of nearly $90,000.
That seemingly staggering sum is not all that princely when compared
to the costs of raising bananas. Ha’s company has only been able to
activate its profit-sharing plan in the past two years, even though
it has been policy for almost two decades. That’s because Ha pays the
salaries of 70 full-time employees, as well as the costs to lease the
land on which his bananas are planted and processed. He also pays for
inputs, taxes, equipment, etc.
“It’s a tough
business,” Ha says. “And after paying all the bills there weren’t a
lot of profits left.”
He hopes that his success in the past two years is a sign of even greater
profits to come, but insists that the business cannot expand beyond
its current structure of his two stepchildren and a son-in-law helping
him manage it. “We’ve reached the limit of what the family can comfortably
manage,” he says. “To keep making a profit we’ve got to do a better
job with what we have.”
Environmental Benefits
His efforts are proving that bananas can be grown — and a successful
business can be built — without the profligate use of chemicals,
extensive erosion, and considerable amounts of water that are standard
in commercial banana-growing operations.
Hilo is by far the rainiest city in the United States, Ha says,
with an average annual rainfall twice that, for example, of Seattle’s.
And that presents a double-edged sword to a banana grower.
Bananas need lots of water — the plant and its fruit consist of
90 percent water — so 127 inches of the stuff annually is a boon.
But funguses and nematodes thrive in such moist conditions, too.
Ha knows well how quickly they can destroy healthy bananas. Caterpillars,
which love to eat bananas, tend to proliferate in the wet, warm
climate as well.
Ha says he has been forced through the years to combat these pests
with conventional chemicals, but that he has also experimented and
found ways to lessen his dependence on them. For example, he has
learned that he can cut the frequency and severity of “leaf-cutter”
caterpillar infestations by boosting the population of predatory
wasps. He lines his groves with flowers to attract the wasps to
nest in his groves.
Ha also discourages moths and other flying pests by removing the
flowers at the end of each banana fruit before maturity. That’s
not a common practice in the industry because it’s so labor intensive.
It’s easier to spray pesticides.
Cultivating fewer plants per acre than the industry norm also has
proven beneficial. Despite recording lower yields, Ha allows grass
to grow along the rows and between plants to greatly reduce erosion
as well as to provide a “sponge effect” that holds fertilizers,
insecticides and fungicides near the plants for longer periods instead
of allowing them to leach quickly into the water table. Ha says
the reduced yield tends to be balanced by an equally reduced need
for expensive inputs.
Additionally, though it would appear to be unnecessary in such a
thoroughly wet climate, Ha is initiating efforts to recycle water.
Lots of it is needed during the packing process both for washing
and for transport, and Ha is certain he can save money by recycling
most of the water he uses instead of channeling it into the sewer
system. Each year, they capture about 700,000 gallons of rainwater
from the roof of one of their buildings in one of two on-site reservoirs.
They use the water to wash and sluice the bananas to the packing
rooms.
Finally, while Ha follows the industry practice of wrapping bananas
in plastic while they are still on the tree to stabilize color and
stave off last-minute damage from pests, he does not follow the
industry standard of using bags laced with the pesticide Dursban.
His bags are pesticide-free.
These efforts have earned Ha’s farms an “Eco-OK” distinction from
the Rainforest Alliance.
Community and Quality
of Life Benefits
Ha enjoys being a pioneer — both of the re-established Hawaiian
banana industry and of more sustainable methods for growing bananas.
He believes the Hawaiian climate, particularly on his island, is
ideally suited to growing good-tasting bananas with a minimum of
synthetic inputs, and is proud of the proof he’s provided to support
that belief.
Ha and his wife, June, have traveled a good portion of the world
to see how others grow bananas, and they are proud to have been
joined in the business by both their children and a son-in-law.
He employs
70 full-timers from the community and provides them with health and
dental benefits. He eliminated using the pesticide Dursban partly because
of worker safety.
“My workers have to apply those bags by hand, and I couldn’t see having
them work with that powder falling down on them all day,” Ha says.
Transition Advice
“I think I could fill a museum with things that didn’t work,” Ha says.
“But that doesn’t mean I should not have tried them, especially when
nobody around me could give me any real knowledgeable advice.”
He says patience has been his greatest guide, and “taking the long-term
view” is always necessary. Such an attitude caused him to change the
way he thought about himself after a time, too. He said he considered
himself a businessman exclusively when he started growing bananas, and
that his initial interest in sustainable methods sprang from a belief
that they could save him money and time. That has proven true, but his
interest in these methods and watching them at work has had the effect
of making him feel more like a farmer than a businessman.
“Now I care as much about doing things that help my soil and my water
as I do about the business end,” he said.
The Future
Hawaiian banana growers were encouraged a couple of years ago when the
USDA approved, for the first time, the export of their bananas to the
other 49 states. Ha expanded his operation by another 300 acres to take
advantage of the opportunity, and will soon be shipping to the mainland
and to Japan.
He is also in the process of changing most of his production from the
Williams variety of bananas — the most commonly grown — to a variety
known as the Apple banana. Though more delicate, Ha says this variety
is sweeter and has a more complex flavor that appeals to many consumers.
These bananas have been selected, in fact, by the catalogue distributor
of gourmet products, Harry and David, to be included in their holiday
fruit baskets — an event Ha expects to increase both his company’s profile
and profits.
He said he will also be entering the market for other tropical fruits
by testing his ability to raise and market papayas, and he plans on
establishing a nursery for decorative plants.
 Profile
written by David Mudd
For more information:
Richard Ha
Mauna Kea Banana Farm
421 Lama St., Hilo, Hawaii 96720
(808) 981-0805
www.maunakeabanana.com
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