Ecuador provides more than 33% of the global banana export.

Before the visitor influx, banana exports sustained St Lucia, especially after 1964 when it stopped producing sugar cane.

They accounted for the majority of banana exports, despite only coming into existence in 1836.

In recent years, however, agriculture has been on the decline, which may be due to the problems that Jamaican banana export has been facing.

An agreement was reached in 1976 to tax banana exports.

The value of banana exports fell to less than 25% of merchandise trade earnings in 1998 compared to about 44% in 1994.

The nation became nearly selfsufficient in sugar, and banana exports grew, albeit haltingly.

Yet, despite the boom year of 1972, banana exports declined.

While sugar, rum, and banana exports resumed to a degree after the war, the islands' economies have not kept satisfactory pace with their burgeoning populations.

Ecuador's banana exports grew from US$2 million to US$20 million between 1948 and 1952.