Banana plantation
Banana plants may grow with varying degrees of success in diverse climatic conditions, but commercial banana plantations are primarily found in equatorial regions, in banana exporting countries. The four leading banana export countries worldwide are Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia. Ecuador provides more than 33% of global banana exports. In 2004, banana producing countries totaled 130. Production, as well as exports and imports of bananas, are nonetheless concentrated in a few equatorial countries. 75% of total banana production in 2004 was generated in 10 counties. India, Ecuador, Brazil and China produced half of total bananas. Latin American and Caribbean countries led banana production up to the 1980s, and Asian nations took the lead in banana production during the 1990s. African production levels have remained mostly unchanged.
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.