Grupo Esfuerzo: a company up to the standards of our European clients.

In Grupo Esfuerzo, we have over 30 years of experience in the export of Costa Rican bananas. Currently, we export Cavendish bananas to the United States, Europe, and Asia from our farms in Matina, Valle La Estrella, and Cahuita de Limón.
This represents a significant challenge, considering that countries are increasingly strict about their quality requirements and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.
For this reason, our company has a team with vast industry experience and technical advisory services that constantly evaluate the requirements of the countries we export to, monitoring current needs and projecting future demands from our customers. This allows us to anticipate possible requests, adapting to changes quickly and efficiently.

• Monitoring the quality of our bananas
  We constantly evaluate our quality, as well as materials and fruit, through recognized laboratories with international accreditations such as ISO 17025 and 9001 standards. This ensures the reliability of the data provided to our customers.

• Plastic waste management
  At Grupo Esfuerzo, we recycle 99% of the total plastic used in our processes.
  We maintain an inventory of the processes in our operation that use plastic and identify which ones allow the use of recycled resin and which ones require virgin resin. Additionally, we map the uses of plastic and its final disposal. If any input is single-use and therefore non-recyclable, it is replaced with materials that allow recycling and later reuse.
  We have optimized the use of plastic packaging and prefer those with recycled resin that are allowed by regulations, reducing their size by up to 30%.
  We reuse all plastic boxes for fresh fruit packaging and eliminate other types of plastics that would be used in conventional cardboard boxes.
  With innovative tools and smart indicators, we will monitor the amount of plastic used in our processes, considering both recycled and non-recycled sources.

• Banana waste management
  All our plant waste is reincorporated into the field; harvested plants and their leaves are left in the field for decomposition, which provides leachates that help maintain soil moisture and improve soil structure.
  We also treat non-commercial bananas and pinzote (the hard green part where the bananas hang) to incorporate them into the field as natural fertilizer. Specifically, we grind them and mix them with decomposing beneficial microorganisms.
  This fertilizer is rich in nitrogen, helping the ecosystem’s microbiology and maintaining the health of our soils in a circular economy system.
  All these environmental actions help us meet the Green Pact standards, which are applicable in our export countries.

• Respect for labor rights and human dignity
  In addition to our efforts in environmental matters, we respect labor rights and comply with the provisions of the Labor Code of Costa Rica, including the payment to the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) and the coverage for Work Risk insurance. As part of this package, a 5% payroll contribution is made to the Family Allowance Program, which provides assistance to families in need.
  We also offer additional benefits established in direct agreements with worker representatives democratically elected at a general assembly.
  In summary, at Grupo Esfuerzo, we believe that relationships with our stakeholders, especially customers, are based on close, constant, transparent, and fluid communication. These are the pillars of stable businesses, which are strengthened and solidified over time.
  In this regard, all the requirements of our customers are communicated to the Management and Sustainability department, who are responsible for passing the inquiry to the corresponding department to make adjustments in processes, quality, or social and environmental responsibility, providing responses to the requests of the countries to which we export and the companies that buy from us worldwide.