A Dole supplier has earned Rainforest Alliance certification for one of its Costa Rica farms.
Standard Fruit Company was awarded the environmental and ethical certification for its Esperanza plantation on the Caribbean coast of the Central American country.
The farm grows bananas on 168 hectares with a further 22ha separated by forest and woodland dedicated to providing habitats for endangered species of flora and fauna.
Chiquita also has Rainforest Alliance certification for its farms in Costa Rica.
Bananas are Costa Rica’s main export crop followed by pineapples and then coffee. The European and US markets between them are worth $600 million annually to the Costa Rican banana sector.
Meanwhile, Costa Rican pineapple exports are expected to increase by 20 per cent this year and to reach a value of $500m, according to forecasts from the sector. Expansion in the US and European markets are fuelling the demand, although a statement from the exporters’ chamber Canapep, indicates the sector needs to do more to target the US market.
Production is growing in line with exports as more growers turn to cultivation of the product rather than bananas, livestock, sugar cane, livestock and root crops.
