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Pineapple processing facility closes, farmers suffer
Pineapple farmers who live and operate within the Mainstay/Whyaka area are convinced that once the defunct Amazon Caribbean Ltd facility which was established with the interest of canning and exporting organic pineapple chunks to Europe is transformed into a processing facility, a multiplicity of other products can be processed.
There is also the additional benefit of creating jobs for persons living in that area.
AMCAR, the Amazon Caribbean Ltd facility, dealt with canning and exporting organic pineapple chunks to Europe. Unfortunately for the past two years, the facility was forced to close apparently due to residents not producing an excess of the organic product which management of the facility had initially bargained for.
The closure has since forced residents to sell their pineapple at the local market at Anna Regina.
Another factor, one resident said, was that pineapple farmers had to cut back on their production because AMCAR was not paying them promptly.
Pineapple farmers said that it has now become “a hustle” to sell their pineapples while lamenting the reduction in acreage they cultivate.
Residents believe that once the facility becomes operational once more other fruits including caramabola, cashew and even guava can be converted and processed and sold on the local markets and in the Caribbean.”If we only focused on pineapple alone it would only work for one crop.”
Marsha Williams, a young councillor who said that it would be more beneficial if the facility is converted into a processing facility opined that farmers who have occupancy at Mainstay/Whyaka would be able to process more than one product at a time. At present, the focus is on pineapples, a seasonal crop.
Williams explained too, that a number of young people as well as persons who are in good health would be able to do something to earn.
Mary Williams, former Vice Chairman of Region Two, said that some vendors transport sometimes two to three hundred pineapples to the Anna Regina Old market to sell on Fridays. Williams said that not all of their pineapples are sold and as such it is a “hustle “on the market.
Pineapples which were supposed to be harvested in the latter part of April were harvested in May due to the weather pattern.
AMCAR was established in 2002 as an initiative of the National Agricultural Research Center (NARI).
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