According to the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG), insufficient access to water and fertiliser is the main hindrance to the development of pineapple production in Ghana. Director General of the SPEG, Stephen Mintah, stated that this is having a large impact on national production. “As we speak, there are indications that pineapple production and export will decrease this year. This happens at a bad time when the local processing units are capable of taking in all production” he says.
In less than 10 years (2004-2013), Ghana’s exports to the EU went from 71,000 tons to 40,000 tons, their share of the pineapple market plummeted from 10% to 3%.
Mr Mintah believes that with the governments intervention, an economical improvement for producers within the sector could be made and “we will see the expansion of farms in terms of acreage and manual labour”.