We did a lot of driving in East Africa recently. Far from being a drag as it would have been on UK motorways, it was a fascinating insight into life in these fast developing countries.

Outside of the main cities like Kigali, Kampala & Entebbe, agriculture is overwhelmingly the dominant industry with plantations of rice, tea, pineapples and most notably bananas dominating the countryside.

Quite incredibly much of the produce starts its transportation journey by pushbike.

Athletic men wait by the trees for their bikes to be loaded like bulky saddlebags for the fruits of the labour to be taken to collection points for eventual distribution nationally, to near neighbours and for export further afield.

They are paid just a few cents per load for what is incredibly hard work.

So, next time you buy bananas in your local supermarket, have a look for their origin. If they are from Africa they are more than likely to have started their journey to our shelves in this way.

Picking the likes of tea & rice for our enjoyment is also extremely laborious work. It should make us all think about what we take for granted has been the result of tedious, back-breaking work somewhere not too far away.