Culture - Production
The sugarloaf pineapple is grown on hills. That allows the fields not to be waterlogged.
Moreover, the weeds grow less on the hills compared to the valleys.
Fields that have been fallow for about 10 years are used to cultivate new pineapple fields.
These soils have regenerated their fertility and doesn’t need fertilization.
Suckers are used to plant the pineapples. The suckers come from the harvest of previous pineapples. The flower of pineapples appears between 15 to 18 months and sometimes 20 months. The eyes of the pineapple represent the flowers that fuse together to form the fruit.
Flower formation can delay on some fruits even though they are planted on the same field and the same day.
Flower formation is controlled by an enzyme called ethylene. Pineapples produce less ethylene compared to other fruits like papaya.
Harvesting is done 24 months after harvest. The fruits are tested on the field to ascertain its quality before harvest. The harvested fruits are not treated with fungicides before export.
The harvested fruits arrive 2 days after harvest in Switzerland.
Wad don’t employ the farmers, each farmer has his own field and therefore participate in decision making.
The sugarloaf pineapple remains green even when ripe. Contrary to what we can think of, pineapples don’t ripe after harvest. It has to therefore get ripe before harvest. It’s not like banana that continues to ripe after harvest.
The yellow pineapple that we see everywhere is less fragile and travels better than the sugarloaf
variety. Those varieties are smooth cayenne and MD2. It’s like a green and yellow apple, the two are different varieties and keep different colours when ripe.
Wad’s pays a fair price to its partners.
