Postage stamps depict everyday scenes from the country’s banana plantations
Scenes that play out daily on Costa Rican banana plantations have inspired the design of two stamps released by the country’s postal service to mark the 55th anniversary of national banana corporation Corbana. The stamps went into circulation on 4 August, when the country celebrates National Banana Worker Day.
The designs illustrate men performing harvesting tasks and a woman working as a packer; together, they represent all the men and women whose work sustain the banana industry in Costa Rica.
At a ceremony at Corbana’s facilities iniLa Rita, Pococí to mark the launch of the stamps, Mauricio Rojas Cartín, general manager of the Costa Rican Postal Service, commented: “It is an honour for the Costa Rican Postal Service to pay tribute to the national banana industry in this way.
“With this stamp issue, we celebrate the efforts of thousands of workers who, through dedication and commitment, have made the banana industry a pillar of the country’s economic and social development. Each stamp stands as a testament to Costa Rica’s living history and the importance of preserving our identity through philately”.
Marcial Chaverri, general manager of national banana corporation Corbana, expressed his gratitude for the contributions of everyone working in the sector to ensure that Costa Rican bananas reach millions of households worldwide, standing as a benchmark for quality and sustainability.
“This is a tribute that honours the history, contributions, and evolution of the entire national banana sector,” he said. “We are a privileged industry, and thanks to the commitment of all the companies and their workers, we can state today that the sector generates formal, stable, and dignified employment for thousands of families in our country.”
Throughout Corbana’s 55-year existence, it has been a fundamental pillar for the industry, bridging the gap between the state and producers to boost the country’s global competitiveness.
Danilo Román, chairman of the Corbana board of directors, highlighted the sector’s evolution over recent decades, noting that it has achieved one of the highest banana productivity rates in the world.
“At Corbana, we will continue working with a forward-looking vision to strengthen the national banana industry,” he said.
“We are committed to fostering conditions that allow for the expansion of banana cultivation areas in the country, influencing public policies that boost the sector’s competitiveness, promoting more efficient approval processes for molecules essential to production, and advancing port infrastructure that is increasingly aligned with the industry’s needs.”
