Gloomy sight for pineapple farmers

...Export to EU market to see further decline

The General Manager of the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG), Stephen Mintah, has disclosed that lack of access to constant water supply and right fertiliser applications are limiting the capacity of farmers who are currently engaged in the otherwise lucrative venture.

He told the B&FT in an interview that the aforementioned factors are blocking pineapple growers from exploiting the full potential of the sector as farmers are unable to get the correct sizes and yields to meet demands of the market.

Mr. Mintah said the situation partly accounts for the recent steep decline in pineapple production at a time demand is high for both local consumption and export.

“As we speak, there are signs that pineapple production and export capacity will go further down this year. This is not good at a time when local processing companies have the capacity to absorb what can be produced, with regard to the Smooth Cayenne variety.

“Compared to Costa Rica, which is a major competitor on the export market, the productivity level of local pineapple producers is around 60 percent; and this is largely because we don’t get the required yields and sizes as we lack access to constant water supply and quality fertilisers to boost production.

“The production of the MD2 variety, which is in high demand on the international market, requires adequate water supply with the right fertiliser application,” he said.

Export of pineapples to the European market has fallen from 71,000 metric tonnes in 2004 to 40,000 metric tonnes in 2013.

The continued downward trend has reduced Ghana’s 10 percent share of the EU export market to only 3 percent and also cut earnings from US$24million to US$19.2million within the same period, and pineapple producers are concerned the trend might not be reversed any time soon in view of the growing challenges.

Mr. Mintah therefore called on government to site irrigation projects close to nucleus farming areas to boost production capacities and make them more competitive in meeting local consumption demands, and also take advantage of the increase in demand from foreign markets.

“There are numerous pineapple-producing enclaves in the southern part of the country, and so the ideal situation would be for government to support such areas with irrigation facilities nucleus farmers within that catchment area can tap into. This can be done at a cost that will be serviced by the farmers on time basis.”

Mr. Mintah said government’s intervention will help to boost production for local consumption and make the country’s export sector better.

“The current situation denies pineapple farmers the ability to feed demand from local processing companies and also increase foreign exchange earnings. This is a worrisome situation that requires government’s timely intervention.

“With government’s support, the economic situation of the farmers and those along the value chain will be improved; there will also be expansion of farm sizes while more hands will be engaged,” he said. Meanwhile, SPEG identified Turkey as a new market for export when the Association participated in the recently-held Izmir Fair.

Mr. Mintah disclosed to the B&FT that SPEG has, upon the request, sent some pineapple samples and sizes to Turkey -- and that the response was satisfactory.

“There is a strong demand for Ghana’s pineapple in Turkey; we have already sent some samples upon request and the remarks were positive. We are currently working on one challenge, and that is the transit time by ship to the destination because air-lifting would be very expensive,” he said.