Ghana pineapples

AgroFair, the Netherlands-based fresh fruit company co-owned by farmers in Africa and Latin America, has added Fairtrade pineapples from Ghana to its programme.

The fruit is produced by Gold Coast Farms, which became FLO certified in July this year and grows Fairtrade MD2 Super Sweet pineapples on 400ha of land in Ghana.

The first shipment of the fruit arrived in Rotterdam during week 38, AgroFair said, and has joined a programme that already includes the world's first Fairtrade pineapple range, grown in Costa Rica and launched in 2002.

'Despite the poverty, the country is always highly rated in the lists of the happiest people on earth,' said Wim Nienhuis, chief executive officer at AgroFair. 'We are sure that the Fairtrade pineapple programme will help to improve the lives of a large number of farmers and as a result Ghana will have even more happy people.'