Exports of MD2 pineapple rake in $20 m

Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE country has successfully completed her first commercial export of MD2 pineapple variety of 42,000 tonnes at the close of last year.
The exports of the new variety earned the country $20 million in foreign currency. That feat also helped the country to maintain her position as the third exporter of pineapples to the European markets.
Additionally, the MD2 variety currently accounts for about 85 per cent of all pineapple exports to the European market.
Ghana’s pineapple exports of smooth cayenne in 2003 took a severe hit as a result of the introduction of the MD2 variety by Costa Rica, which is the leading exporter of pineapples to the European market.
It plunged the industry so badly that exports of pineapples plummeted from 71,000 peak of 2004 tonnes to about 40,000 tonnes in 2005.
According to figures from the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), in the year 2000, Ghana exported a total of over 28,000 tonnes of pineapples valued at $11.85 million, and in 2001, the figure increased to over 35,000 tonnes at a $13 million value. In 2002, the country exported over 46,000 tonnes valued at $15.52 million.
A year later, the country exported 45,000 tonnes valued at about ¢14 million. This was the time Costa Rica introduced the MD2 variety, which forced the price per tonne downwards.
In 2004, export peaked at approximately 72,000 and was valued at $22,068,649, while in 2005, the volumes dropped to about 47,000 tonnes at a value of $12,784,322, making the country feel the full impact of the MD2 variety.
The MD2 variety, according to experts, are yellowish in colour, have longer shelf-life and was sweeter than the smooth cayenne.
Speaking in an interview, the General Manager of the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG), Mr Stephen Mintah, said with the successful implementation of the MD2 variety programme, it would help the country to regain its market share on the European market.
He said “ government’s intervention was timely”, adding that with the successful progress of the MD2 variety, the country expected a 15 per cent increase in pineapple exports for the year.
The government intervened in the pineapple sector with a $2 million facility after the country had suffered a decline in pineapple exports to the European markets.
Part of the government’s support was used to establish the Bioplantlet Ghana Limited for the multiplication of the MD2 variety, through the tissue culture technique as well as the nursery methods.
Bioplantlet was established as a joint venture between the Ministry of Agriculture, the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG), the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to the Project Manager of the Biolplantlet Ghana Limited, Mr Harry Mensah Amoatey, the company was the first laboratory in the country to use the tissue culture technology for the duplication of the MD2 variety in 2003.
He said the process ensured a quick duplication of the MD2 suckers at a relatively shorter periods. Biolplantlet has successfully used the tissue culture technique to multiply the planting materials.
The centre currently produces two million plantlets, although it has the capacity to do more.
The project manager, in another interview, said production started in 2004, and the company had since been producing suckers for farmers and employed 51 people, 10 of whom were permanent staff and 41 casual labour.
He said another effective method was the gauging or the castration methods .
Mr Amoatey said one of the major challenges facing the company was the ability of the farmers to pay back planting materials sold on credit.
He said as at December last year, farmers owed the company $88,000, as result of non-payment of credit extended to them.
He said that was because an arrangement between farmers and the company was to ensure that the suckers were given out on credit to farmers to undertake their planting activities.
Costa Rica is the leading exporter of pineapple to the European markets with an annual export of about 300,000 tonnes followed by Cote de’Ivoire, with an export of 150,000 tonnes, while Ghana just reached the third position with 71,000 tonnes.
According to sources at the GEPC, indications were that with the introduction of the MD2 variety demand for Ghana’s pineapples had picked up.
There is a global pineapple market growth of about six per cent. While Cote d’Ivoire experienced a two per cent growth over the past five years as a result of the conflict situation in that country, Ghana had experienced a 45 per cent growth over the same period and reached the third position.
Costa Rica, around the same period, doubled her exports from 280,000 tonnes in 1996 to 360,000 tonnes by the end of 2001.
Mr Mintah said while Costa Rica had good infrastructure facilities which ensured good refrigeration from the farm gates to the destination, the country lacked such infrastructure.
That, coupled with lower cost of freight and haulage, made the country’s products uncompetitive on the international market.
He was, however, optimistic that the proposed building of storage facilities at the country’s main port would ensure that the country’s products were competitive