Banana production in Brazil
Banana production in Brazil accounts for approximately 10% of the entire world banana production, making Brazil a major banana-producing country in the world. Production has steadily increased over the years, rising from 5.4 million tonnes in 1997 to almost 7 million tonnes in 2007. In 2000, Brazil was fourth, behind India, Uganda and Ecuador, in banana production. By 2006, Brazil became the second largest banana-producer, behind only India, followed by China, Ecuador and the Philippines. Most of the bananas produced are consumed domestically. Gross exports has increased from 12.5 thousand tonnes in 1995 to more than 220 thousand tonnes in 2002 and 2003, mostly to neighbours Argentina and Uruguay, but these figures are still far behind industry leaders such as Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Colombia which export more than a million tonnes of bananas annually.
Economy of Guadeloupe
In Guadeloupe, agriculture constituted 6 percent of GDP and employed 15 percent of the work-force in 1997, which equaled approximately 120,000. The main crops are sugarcane & bananas. Large sugar plantations that produce for both export and local consumption purposes continue to dominate. Sugarcane is grown on western and central parts of Grande-Terre due to its flatlands and rainfall of 1500 to 2500  mm. & on the northeast section of Basse-Terre. There are rum distilleries to produce rum from sugar. Bananas are grown mainly on the western sides of the mountains on Basse-Terre & on the eastern coast of Basse-Terre. The growing of bananas for export began as early as 1922 but the trade grew rapidly when farmers planted bananas to replace their coffee and cocoa which had been destroyed by a hurricane in 1928. In 2000, 121,758 tons of bananas were exported, 72 percent of which were purchased by the French metropolis. In 1999, Guadeloupe formed 8.2% of the banana production in the Caribbean. Other export crops are coffee, cocoa & citrus fruit.