Bananas appear in the fourth quarter of the shield on Fiji’s flag.
The shield is derived from Fiji’s national coat of arms and sits in the flag’s fly half. Its four quarters depict important agricultural or cultural symbols: sugar cane in the first quarter, a coconut palm in the second, a dove of peace in the third and a bunch of bananas in the fourth.
Above the shield, a British lion holds a cocoa pod. The imagery reflects Fiji’s agricultural economy and historical links with the United Kingdom. The flag itself is a light-blue, or cyan, ensign with the Union Jack in the canton and the shield placed toward the fly.
Fiji adopted the flag on October 10, 1970, when it became independent. The design remained in use after Fiji became a republic in 1987. A proposed replacement flag was considered during the 2010s, but the government abandoned the change in August 2016, leaving the familiar shield—and its banana quarter—on the national flag.