Banana industry
In 2016, world production of bananas and plantains was 148 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total (only for bananas) of 28% of global production (table). Other major producers were the Philippines, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Brazil, together accounting for 20% of the world total of bananas and plantains (table).
Banana production in Belize
Banana production in Belize began in the late nineteenth century when it was a British colony, when American and British investors established the first plantations. Over the last
70 years, the pattern of banana production has gradually shifted away from large scale American and British owned company production to smaller-scale localised indigenous farming primarily targeted at the European market. 
The Banana trade began between British Honduras and New Orleans. Commerce was wiped out in the 1920s by an outbreak of the Panama disease. Plantations were destroyed again by hurricanes in 1975 and 1978. The subsequent takeover of banana cultivation by the Banana Control Board, a public enterprise, had the effect of further inhibiting production.