Towards a truly sustainable pineapple production

Here is a great example of the kind of sustainable ideals that drive Nature & More. During November and December 2010 Eosta / Nature & More carried out an investigation in Costa Rica and in Ghana to assess the feasibility of sustainable organic pineapple production for export purposes and its future prospects. ICCO supported the survey. In recent years a shake-out has taken place among organic pineapple producers worldwide...

... Many have lost faith and stopped organic pineapple operations and others are scaling back their production potential. Organic pineapple farmers face a number of important challenges. Some concern sustainable production methods such as soil fertility management, disease control and urgently needed production increases, but most important is that organic pineapple growing has not been a profitable business: most farms operate at a loss. Income from sales has been extremely disappointing over the past years. The returns on investment in the sector have been too low to encourage this type of agricultural activity, and that fact is clearly reflected in the scaling back of the Costa Rican organic farming activities and the lack of any further progress in West Africa and in Ghana in particular.

Both missions, in Costa Rica as well as in Ghana, have focused specifically on improved and sustainable soil fertility by using high grade compost as a basis ingredient for better growth, improved disease resistance and increased productivity. Increased productivity is seen as one of the main stimulants to improve farmers’ income.

The other key element in the investigation was adequate value chain management leading to rewarding price levels for the producer, to make the production of organic pineapples a sound business again.

The project resulted in this final report, that points out a possible route towards the goal. Overall the mission was inspired by the main guiding principles of the Sustainability Flower model: clean energy, wildlife protection, watercourse protection, sustainable soil management, bio diversity and respect for the less privileged who work the pineapple fields in the tropics.