BACK TO EARTH. BACK TO BANANA.
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Ye toto
le wowo
What a magnificent phrase; it means the sun is shining, and that’s true to us in many ways. We never say how great the weather was yesterday and the day before, because there’s really no need to.
Where the sun shines the most, that’s where you’ll find our plantations. And while others search for life’s greater meaning, we have found real satisfaction in ours.
The truth is we really love what we do, and there is this pleasure in seeing the joy our bananas can bring. So go on, take a bite because, like a banana, life should be raw, simple and sweet.
OUR STORY
It was an uneventful day in the summer of 2006 when we asked each other: “Wouldn’t it be great to get out and spend the rest of our days under the sun, and actually see the work we do come to life?”
After going over a few ideas, we settled on the one we all loved: In 2008, the first Señorita banana plantation was set up in the Philippines.
And today we have farms spread across the globe, making us a key provider of fresh Cavendish bananas for many countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
OK, we grow bananas.
Deliciously sweet, filling, and fragrant Cavendish bananas. But still, they are just bananas, we get that. What we cultivate is simple. And why shouldn’t it be? When life gives you a banana, there’s no need to make anything else out of it.
We enjoy taking our precious time to grow; there’s absolutely no rush. Getting our hands dirty and nurturing something fresh and healthy with the help of an entire community, it doesn’t get better than this.
THE JOURNEY
OF A BANANA AT SEñORITA
A banana at Señorita begins its life at the tissue culture lab. There, corms are grown on quarantined seedbeds and healthy sword suckers are selected.
Next, explants are selected and decontaminated using sodium chloride (5% NaCl) before micro-propagation.
Tissue samples from corms are collected and checked for diseases using ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) testing.
Healthy corms are then sliced into four sections, and each section is inoculated for 21 days.
In this four-stage phase – known as multiple buds/multiple shooted cultures/micro cutting – explant sections are sliced into clusters, and these clusters are then grown into freshly prepared mediums.
During in vitro rooting and acclimatization, multiple shoots and buds are separated and then planted in a rooting medium for 28 days or until leaves and roots are fully developed.
Selected meriplants are taken from culture bottles and dipped into fungicide solution. They are then sent to the nursery where they are nurtured until field planting time to ensure consistent and superior quality, better survival rates, higher yields, and less risk of diseases.
At the nursery, meriplants are planted in pots of coir dust and sawdust in protected seedbeds for about six weeks.
After this, they are transported to the hardening area, where they stay for two more weeks before finally heading to the field to spend their lives on a sunny patch of land being cared for by fruit care, irrigation, and harvesting teams.
Using the latest in farming technologies and carefully designed key operations, our fruit care teams spend each day clearing land, checking buds, de-flowering and de-fingering, pruning, trimming leaves, supporting plants, and making sure bananas are pest-free.
Our banana plants are constantly kept hydrated with the help of our irrigation teams and using state-of-the-art drip irrigation technology that saves on water and electricity.
Once the time for harvesting arrives, our fresh bananas are transported to a world-class packinghouse. As part of our people-centric approach, we use the latest technologies available to support each team such as motorized cabling systems that facilitate work on the field.
At the packinghouse, Señorita bananas are carefully de-handed, washed, handpicked, weighed, packed, and sent on their way to you.
THE
CERTIFICATIONS
Like with anything that makes its way to your table, our bananas are grown with your health and safety always in mind.
We are constantly looking for ways to make sure we offer you the best quality produce by employing a range of sustainable and product safety measures.
Global Good Agricultural Practices (GGAP)
The world’s leading farm assurance program that harmonizes different supplier standards in order to ensure safe high-quality practices and produce.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
A preventive system required by GGAP and assessed by independent third-party auditors. It ensures food safety through the analysis, control, and management of different hazards during production.
ISO 9001
A certification that enables the continuous improvement of our quality management systems and processes in all business areas including people, facilities, trainings, and equipment.
Behind Every
Banana
Is Obey, Josephine, Jerry, Kito, and many other women and men.
We are the Señorita family, and we come from communities older than, well, the Age of Enlightenment. Every banana tells our story, is nurtured by waters that run deep, and grown on a land that is ours.
If we weren’t born here, we got married here, we brought up our children here, and we celebrate life here. Like today – it’s Mary’s 7th birthday, Emmanuel’s daughter, and many of us will be at their home this evening celebrating.
THE
SUPPORT
We have come a long way thanks to our teams and communities, and we try to give back whenever we can.
From trainings and workshops, to school supplies provision for our employees’ children, to feeding plans, to CSR initiatives with local municipalities, we are always working towards upholding the integrity, and developing the social, educational and infrastructural spheres, of our communities.
THE
LANDS
We grow on thousands of acres of farmland along the equator in locations such as Ghana and the Philippines with great weather, all-year-round water supply and, of course, good company.
PHILIPPINES
GHANA
GROWTH Enter Gallery
HARVESTING Enter Gallery
PACKING Enter Gallery
LET'S TALK
We’re probably somewhere outside, on the field, singing under the sun, or busy with a new harvest.
Today or tomorrow, we’ll get back to you when the time is right: backtoearth@senorita.com
