: Local farmer Norry David from Vanuatu, a first-time pineapple producer, sees the crop as an important potential source of revenue for his family and the country, and in just a short time has become President of the Vanuatu Pineapple Farmers Association.

Those pineapples that still seem exotic on a super market shelf anywhere beyond the equator, are not just gorgeous to look at and luscious to eat or drink but this seemingly omnipresent tropical produce requires a careful and lengthy process of cultivation.
 
In the Pacific island of Vanuatu, where pineapple production on a large commercial scale is still being developed, local family and commercial pineapple farms are being helped through a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) project to improve and enhance their production through better planting and husbandry techniques and by improving post-harvest practices through better management.
 
Pineapples can take anywhere between 12 months and two years to grow to maturity, as opposed to vegetables such as cabbages and tomatoes that take only one to three months.
 
It is easy to understand why local farmers were often protective of their crops, for while planting is relatively easy, basic planting materials of  the head, side leaves or roots of the pineapple are guarded by farmers, especially those with high quality produce, to ensure competitors are not able to access the planting materials. This means that for new farmers access to local planting materials, especially from successful farms with sought after produce, can be an issue.
 
Over the past year, FAO has been working with local farmers either starting from scratch, or providing advice to improve existing commercial farms producing anywhere from a few hundred to 100 000 pineapples.
 
FAO experts help set up demonstration farms demonstrating optimum planting techniques like ensuring that plants are sown in rows rather than planted indiscriminately. This allows for intercropping in the spaces between the pineapples, with other short term harvesting crops such as peanuts, yam, sweet potatoes and spring onions. It also makes weeding and watering easier.
 
The traditional method of pineapple farming takes more land space, whereas new techniques can free-up as much as 50 percent of the land that can be used for other food or cash crops. In other words, farmers can produce as much or more pineapple using fewer resources. At the same time, pineapple is also an attractive crop as it requires fewer and less costly preservation techniques compared to other fruit and vegetables.
 
Farmers also learn to rotate the land planted with pineapples with other produce such as cassava which helps to replenish the soil.
 
While fruit and vegetables are widely grown across the country’s six provinces, production is dominated by semi-subsistence farmers using mainly household labour and few inputs to meet their food needs and produce some surplus for markets. With a healthy tourism industry, there is great potential to supply hotels and restaurants with good quality fruit and vegetables.
 
Assistance provided by FAO also assists farmers in being able to ensure off-season production. In Vanuatu, for example, the peak pineapple season is from November to February which means that a glut in production with pineapples all hitting the market at the same time, can lead to falling produce prices. Farmers are therefore encouraged to stagger production through techniques such as early flower initiation.
 
Overall the project aims to build public and private sector capacity to market fresh and processed pineapple products to the Vanuatu domestic market. It takes a whole value chain approach, from adoption of improved planting material, improved crop nutrition and off-season production practices; improved harvesting and post-harvest handling practices; and the adoption of improved processing practices, in order to provide an important secondary market for locally produced pineapple.
 
Local farmer Norry David from Efate in Vanuatu, a first-time pineapple producer has been supported by the project since June 2016. With 1 400 pineapple suckers planted, growth is already impressive. Norry plans to plant an entire hectare with pineapple using techniques that FAO has shown him. He hopes to create a job for himself and his family while also increasing the potential to enter the overseas export market.  In just a short time, Norry has even become President of the Vanuatu Pineapple Farmers Association.
 
This technical cooperation project with a budget of USD335 000 dollars over two years (2015 to 2017), in addition to helping to train farmers and establish demonstration farms,  has also produced a complete series of nine easy-to-read training booklets, cropping calendar, and a trainers guide book to pineapple production aimed at local farmers, like Norry David. 

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