|
Dole Supplier Gets Rainforest
Approval
Standard Fruit Company was
awarded the environmental and
ethical certification for its
Esperanza plantation on the
Caribbean coast of the Central
American country.
The farm grows bananas on 168
hectares with a further 22
hectares separated by forest and
woodland dedicated to providing
habitats for endangered species
of flora and fauna.
Chiquita also has Rainforest
Alliance certification for its
farms in Costa Rica.
Bananas are Costa Rica’s main
export crop followed by
pineapples and then coffee. The
European and US markets between
them are worth us$600 million
annually to the Costa Rican
banana sector.
Meanwhile, Costa Rican pineapple
exports are expected to increase
by 20 per cent this year and to
reach a value of us$500 million,
according to forecasts from the
sector. Expansion in the US and
European markets are fuelling
the demand, although a statement
from the exporters’ chamber
Canapep, indicates the sector
needs to do more to target the
US market.
Production is growing in line
with exports as more growers
turn to cultivation of the
product rather than bananas,
livestock, sugar cane, livestock
and root crops.
|
|
