Original sentence: During this period a new variety of banana known as "Cavendish" was introduced in Central America, which was a setback to Ecuador as its banana production for export was affected.Events such as Black sigatoka, a banana disease destroying much of banana production in Central American countries and Colombia, a levy of export tax, and political unrest, came to Ecuador's advantage.In 1954, five companies including Standard Fruit, United Fruit, and Noboa handled 80 percent of Ecuador's banana exports.In 1974, Ecuador became a member of the Union of Banana Exporting Countries in an attempt to bargain for better prices.The proposal of an export tax did not succeed in Ecuador, and in 1975 the union collapsed after what became known as "bananagate", bribery of the banana trade monopoly consisting of the three US companies United Fruit), Standard Fruit, and the Del Monte Corporation.This resulted in the large landholders losing the advantage and as a result very large numbers of smaller non union plantations came to be established under local producers
Edited sentence: During this period a new variety of banana known as "Cavendish" was introduced in Central America which was a setback to Ecuador as its banana production for export was affected.Events such as Black sigatoka, a banana disease destroying much of banana production in Central American countries and Colombia, a levy of export tax, and political unrest, were used to Ecuador's advantage.In 1954, five companies (including Standard Fruit, United Fruit, and Noboa) handled 80 percent of Ecuador's banana exports.This resulted in the large landholders losing the advantage and as a result very large number of smaller non-union plantations came to be established under local producers