Look up there! Are those pineapples?
No. Those are coconuts.
Then how about these?
Cacao? Oh, that’s where chocolate comes from. Well, let’s keep looking.
Hey, up there! Did you find a pineapple?
He says its an avocado.
Well, let’s not give up….. Over here. This one has to be a pineapple. Look at it. It’s the right size and shape and color.
No. It’s too smooth. That’s a breadfruit (or in Honduras, a mazapan).
Let’s ask these folks what they found.
Oh. Just more avocados.
Ok, now I know those are not pineapples.
But wait! Could it be? Yes, I think it is.
Finally. That’s a genuine pineapple. But… look where it’s growing!
It’s in a field, on a plant hardly 4 feet tall. Who knew?
Thousands of acres of pineapples are grown annually along Honduras’ northern coastal plain by the Standard Fruit Company (Dole). Barely above sea level, this area is warm and humid year round. The land is sculpted with large machinery to form subtle pillow-like mounds to receive maximum drainage during periods of heavy rain.
Then black nylon strips are placed on the raised rows. This helps prevent weeds. Manual weeding would be time consuming and dangerous because of the barbed leaves of the pineapple plants.
Holes are then cut in the nylon to plant the new crop. These new plants are suckers that form on the previous year’s plants. From planting to harvest requires more than a year, and each plant only produces one pineapple for commercial use. The planting is staggered so there will be plants at all stages of growth at all times and there will always be some plants ready to harvest. This way we can have pineapples in our supermarkets year round.
So the next time you are enjoying a pineapple, remember all the hard work that went into producing that one fruit. And since they don’t grow on trees, there is no shade out there in those hot fields.
Rural Honduras 