Type 3: Non-adopters of the PhilGAP Certification Programme Who Have Not Implemented

Five independently operating banana plantation companies participated in this research under Type 3. However, it was decided to remove three interviews of the respondents becase these did not provide additional insights about the phenomenon of interest compared to the first two respondents. Thus, only two companies were analysed in detail and coded as ‘Plantation E’ and ‘Plantation F’. Both plantations are situated in a contiguous section of land located in the province of Davao del Norte (Figure 24).

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5.4.3.1 Plantation E

‘Plantation E’ is owned and run by a family that engages in banana production only, on a 75-hectare lowland banana plantation. It is located adjacent to another 25-hectare banana plantation, which is also leased and managed by the family. In addition, another five hectares of lowland bananas in a different province were acquired by the family recently and are now under its management. The plantation can produce up to 60 boxes of bananas per hectare per week, which are exclusively sold to a licensed exporter, coded as ‘Exporter A’. The bananas purchased by ‘Exporter A’ are sold to the Chinese market as long as they meet the phytosanitary and chemical residue requirements. The areas

farmed by ‘Plantation E’s’ owners used to be leased and managed by a multinational institutional

buyer, coded as ‘Plantation X’, until it was devastated by a typhoon in 2005. It was then managed by the current owners upon termination of the leasing contract. Unlike the previous respondents, the

management structure of ‘Plantation E’ is not hierarchical because all decisions are made by the

owner. ‘Plantation E’ employs a total of 100 people that are a mostly hired on a casual basis and most

of them come from other banana plantations. The company does not belong to an association of banana growers and it is heavily reliant on market and regulatory information provided by the

licensed exporter. Among the participating plantations in this research, ‘Plantation E’ is the only

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77 because the participant was not aware about what constitutes a PhilGAP certification process and they wanted the researcher to assess if they were capable of participating in the PhilGAP certification programme. A description of the field observation is presented in the succeeding paragraphs.

Figure 24. Map of the Philippines (Google Maps, 2016), magnifying Mindanao Island where 'Plantations E and F' are located.

The following description was obtained from the field observation on ‘Plantation E’, something not

possible on the other plantations. It provides some insights into the QMS they use. ‘Plantation E’ is

enclosed by improvised fences but guarded with a sturdy metal gate (Figure 25). The entrance gate has an armed security guard who regulates the entry and exit of people to the plantation. The entrance has a foot bath facility to quarantine possible pathogens coming from outside to the plantation. To enter the gate, workers need to present an identification card and wear a uniform as required. The gate is situated one kilometre away from the packing facility, through a rough road where bananas are planted left and right (Figures 26).

‘Plantation E’s internal operations are based on the management processes used by the previous

company, ‘Plantation X’. Bananas from the field are brought to the packing plant through a cable way and inspected according to desired specifications (Figure 27). After inspection, banana hands are removed from the bunch (Figure 28). Then bananas are placed in washing pool filled with flowing clean water (Figure 29). As the bananas reach the other side of the pool, they are weighed and sorted according to the specifications or rejected if they do not meet them (Figure 30). The bananas that pass the specifications are packed in a box with the aid of a blower or vacuum (Figures 31 and 32). In each step, bananas are regularly inspected for damage and rejected if not up to standard.

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Figure 25. Entrance gate at ‘Plantation E’ (Author, 2016).

Figure 26. Rough road inside ‘Plantation E’ where bananas are planted left and right (Author, 2016).

Figure 27. Bunches of bananas brought to the inspection area through a cable way (Author, 2016).

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Figure 29. Bananas are placed in a washing pool filled with flowing clean water (Author, 2016).

Figure 30. Bananas are weighed and sorted according to specifications or rejected if they do not meet them (Author, 2016).

Figure 31. The bananas that pass the specifications are packed in a box with the aid of a blower or vacuum (Author, 2016).

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80

‘Plantation E’ also maintains a record of the farm operations (Figure 33) and provides resting and meeting facilities for workers (Figure 34). In addition, liquid organic fertiliser inputs are properly stacked in a sheltered area (Figure 35).

Figure 33. A record showing the weekly monitoring of pesticide operations and the results of the harvest (Author, 2016).

Figure 34. Meeting or resting facility (Author, 2016).

Figure 35. Storage facility for liquid organic fertiliser products (Author, 2016).

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5.4.3.2 Plantation F

‘Plantation F’ is owned and run by a family corporation that is engaged in the buying, growing and

exporting of Cavendish bananas. The corporation owns a 70-hectare lowland banana plantation established in 1994 and produces an average of 5,000 boxes of bananas annually. They were a

contract grower for ‘Plantation X’ from 2001 to 2010, but then became an independent operation in

2011. Aside from growing bananas, it has also expanded its business and buys bananas from a number of smaller lowland banana growers (203 hectares), which are then on-sold into the export markets.

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‘Plantation F’s management structure is headed by a president and CEO, to whom managers in

different divisions are reporting (Figure 36). The export operations manager oversees the export market operations including the sourcing of bananas. The production manager supervises the daily production operations in the corporate-owned banana plantations. The farm consultant provides technical support to the farm operations such as pesticide usage and agronomic practices. The finance manager deals with the financial obligations of the company, while the human resources manager deals with the recruitment and training of employees. The company employs 17-18 people in the office and 80 others in the field. The company is also member of a smaller association of banana exporters and growers.

Figure 36. The high-level management structure of ‘Plantation F’.

As a former contracted grower of ‘Plantation X’, the company follows the QMS used by ‘Plantation X’ and maintains or improves the facilities in the plantation. The internal QMS is aligned with ISO 9000, although the company did not undertake the certification process. In addition, the farm

consultant who used to work in ‘Plantation C’ and ‘Plantation X’ recommends annual improvements

in the plantation practices to meet customer requirements. There are no certification requirements from their customers in Japan, Korea, China and the Middle East, as long as the product complies with their standards for pesticide residues and phytosanitary requirements. In order to provide a general view of the plantations characteristics in each type of adopter or non-adopter, the follow section provides a comparative summary of the contextual factors.