Growing sustainable bananas can be a family business

More than a decade ago, the Department of Magdalena in Colombia decreed that a Banana Growing Zone of nearly 50,000 hectares and comprised mainly of the townships Ríofrío, Orihueca, Guacamayal, was a municipality in its own right. Today, this area called Zona Bananera is becoming synonymous with sustainable banana production and is the birthplace of many smallholders who have been closely linked with the banana sector for generations. One of them is Albeiro Alfonso Cantillo, also known as ‘Foncho’ to many, or simply Albeiro.