“Chinese banana plantations bring work and pollution to Laos”, 14 October 2019

Chinese banana plantations first started cropping up… in Bokeo province, northern Laos, which borders Thailand and Myanmar. Nowadays they cover more than 11,000 hectares, provide US$100 million in annual exports, and make up 95% of Bokeo’s exports, according to a 2017 report by Plan International.

Most Lao banana plantation workers accept their dangerous working conditions because they earn more doing it than other jobs. The landlords renting to the Chinese plantations know they’re associated with pollution, but again, the exchange seems worth it…

Nong’s [a food shop owner in Bokeo’s capital Huay Xai] father-in-law has mixed feelings about the Chinese banana plantations. “They are good because they have created jobs but bad because they use lots of chemicals.”

He explained that the chemicals end up in the rivers and creeks…

He [Stuart Ling, an independent researcher in agriculture] said the government is trying to align the industry with Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), a set of rules that promote economic, social and environmental stability, developed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation…

The banana plantations visited by China Dialogue do not appear to follow GAP standards. They had large amounts of burnt plastic waste melted into the ground. Piles of discarded boxes, rotten bananas, trash and empty chemical bottles were left in areas where bananas are washed, packed and loaded onto trucks.

The discarded chemical bottles… included bottles of chloropyrifos, a toxic chemical that can cause death or serious health problems, including lung cancer. Even at very small doses chloropyrifos can harm the development of foetuses and children…

Full-time labourers that live on the plantations and look after them are employed for a season of seven to ten months…

 “We are not allowed to go home unless someone dies. Anyone who leaves for a week or more without giving notice gets fired,” said one couple…

Workers’ accommodation is uncomfortable and very hot. A long shed made from corrugated metal divided up into about six to ten rooms not much bigger than a double bed, one for each worker couple and any children they may have.

Many camps visited by China Dialogue had no toilets or showers. Workers defecate in the forest and bathe in a creek that dries up to a trickle in the hot season and is probably contaminated with agricultural chemicals.

Children under 16 are not supposed to work on the plantations, but no checks seem to be carried out. China Dialogue spoke to a 16-year-old who had been working on banana plantations since he was 14.

Older children might also help in the fields which could be particularly dangerous as agricultural chemicals usually harm children more than adults…

More worryingly, it seems they were poisoned by chemicals while doing the work. One said: “My tongue went numb for about a week and the same happened to three other people I spoke to.” As soon as he said that, all the other men in the group said they had suffered from the same ailment…

Despite the poor working conditions and possible long-term health effects from working on the plantations, there is no shortage of people willing to do it…