Bananas are more valuable than carrots.
âEl unico fruto del amor/ es la banana, es la bananaâ -Ben Sa Tumba & Son Orchestre; âLa bananaâ-
Some definition:
âValuableâ: very useful or very important; worth a lot of money. -2010 Oxford dictionary-
âCultivarâ: a plant or grouping of plants selected for desirable characteristics. -2014 Wikipedia-
Bananas are more valuable than carrots? Yes, they are.
Why? âValuableâ refers to a lot of things, so:
1)Historical value
There is evidence that banana cultivation started in 8000-5000 b.C. Carrot cultivation started in 3000-2000 b.C. This make the banana one of the first fruit cultivated.
Bananas were introduced to the Americas in early 1500 , carrots in the 17th.
There is no evidence that preistoric men(or monkeys) preferred roots rather than fruits, but it's probably that they started to eat fruits(like bananas) before roots(like carrots) because they are more obtanaible(and visible on a tree) than roots. So, I would assume that more human beings are survived eating bananas rather than carrots.
2)Biological value
Banana has an enormous number of cultivars(between 300 and 1000), some created using artificial techniques with the purpose of satisfy several needs. Also there are green, yellow, pink,purple, red,, silvery, with seeds, seedless, oval,curved bananas.
Carrots, although have a similar variety of colours, don't have a such number of cultivars and the focus on the cultivation of the classical orange variety have suppressed the other ones.
Most of the bananas cultivated are sterile, so the farmers create a plantation by removing and transplanting suckers.This is an operation that require minimal care. The plants produce fruit in about 6 months and live for 25 years and more.
Carrots, instead, grown in 4 months(then it needs sow the field again) , but require a lot of care, plow and sowing.
3)Economical value
Banana's production is about 110 million tonnes. Carrot's production is about 36 million tonnes.
Major producers of bananas are developing nations like India, Ecuador, Philippines which find in banana's exportation a source of money for national investment. Major producers of carrots (above 40% of mondial production) is China... -FAOstat 2013-
Bananas is the most eaten fruit in the world. This means there is a very very large economic platform based on bananas commerce that encourages multinational corporation to invest in the above developing nations. Also bananas commerce(and other type of commercial exchange) encouraged EU to write and sign the Cotonou agreement: the first article says âSustained economic growth, developing the private sector, increasing employment and improving access to productive resources shall all be part of this framework â
Banana is one of the food wich take part of the Fair Trade movement.This means better trading conditions and sustainability for exporters (and importers). Carrot not.
4)Cultivation value
One of the major problem of bananas is that they are disease-sensitive: luckily there are a so big number of cultivar that is easily replace an infected one.
Carrots suffer disease too, but, in addition to that, their problem include phisical damage that carrots
inflict themselves during growth. This can affect over 30% of carrots produced and reduces drastically their commercial value.
5)Cultural value
Everybody knows the gag of a person slipping on a banana peel and the songs like "Yes! We have no bananas" and âLa bananaâ. The debut album of The Velvet Undergrond features a banana designed by Andy Warhol, the leader of the pop art. There are some urban legend regarding bananas. The banana takes part in the religious beliefs of several popolation and is a fertility symbol. Bananas are quoted in Buddhist writings.
Carrots simply have none of the above. Well, onestly carrots are quoted in âDe re coquinariaâ written by Marcus Gavius Apicius (III century A.D). If you've never been interested in Latin literature, you know him. But, seriously, that treaty speak about cooking...
6)Nutritional value
Bananas are source of vitamin B and potassium. Often we see athletes eat a banana. It's scientifically proven that eating bananas decreases the risk of cancer.
Carrots, instead, are source of beta-carotene.
Surprisingly, it is scientifically proven that high doses of b-carotene in smokers increases the risk of cancer -CARET âthe Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial" 1996 National Cancer Institute-
7)Other use value
Banana leaf are often used as umbrella.
Banana peel have the capacity of purificate water from heavy metal. -2007 Master Thesis of M.R. Boniolo, Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares-
Also banana peel is a cheap way to polish shoes.
Banana plants are often used for ornamental purpose and are source of fiber for textiles and paper.
Carrots are food for humans e animals, have no other uses. Well, their wild variant is a weed. They says:âThe grass is always greener on the other side of the fenceâ. Maybe some wild carrots can be useful.
