Some farmers on Saipan use the tropical fruit as part of their crop rotation scheme while some have made it as their main produce.
A pineapple farm on one of the arable hills has 5,030 plants and 1,035 of them are now bearing fruits, some are ready for harvest anytime soon.
Joe Borja, who has been running the farm for years now, said this month alone, he harvested over 300 pounds of pineapples.
Of the 8.5 hectares of the farm which his father-in-law Abel Olopai left behind when he passed away in 1994, 6.5 hectares now have different varieties of pineapple, other fruits and vegetables.
Besides the fact that it is his favorite fruit, pineapple captured Borja’s interest for a number of reasons.
He said he did not see many pineapples being grown on Saipan whose lands are perfect for growing one of the world’s most unique and healthy tropical fruits.
Borja also realized that pineapple farming is not at all that hard. He said it is “less labor intensive” which means it does not require too much tilling of the plot. In fact, allowing certain types of grass around the plant actually helps it grow and bear fruit faster, he said.
Pineapple, he added, doesn’t need a lot of water to survive.
According to Borja, during the Spanish colonial period, the pineapple was one of the main crops in the Marianas.
He now grows several varieties of pineapple: the red Spanish, the natal queen, Thailand and Dole, all surrounded by lemon, tangerine and calamansi plants, soursops, avocados, papaya, root crops and vegetables.
Borja said his pineapple farm started with only 250 plants in Nov. 2009.
He bought seedlings from other backyard growers and he got some from Mt. Tapchau where a few descendants of the pineapples planted during the Japanese era had survived.
In 2010, he started selling pineapples, and it is now his steady business.
He said his pineapples were “too saleable” that he had to expand his plots and learn the different ways of propagation.
Besides the pineapple crown, which is known to be the fruit’s seedling, there are three other parts of the plant that can be used for reproduction — shoots, sucker and slips.
The shoots are those that grow from the bottom of the mature fruit. These shoots can become individual plants once the mother fruit is harvested.
Seedlings that come from the sides of the mother plant are called sucker.
Slips are the baby plants that sprout from the roots.
Once the pineapple is harvested, Borja diligently separates the baby plants. He plants them on the aisles of the plots before getting rid of the mother plants. This way, the position of the plants changes every harvest time.
Borja would like to thank the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service for their support and assistance.
Pineapple production field day
THE Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program is holding the 2011 Pineapple Production Field Day in the CNMI from 9 to 12 noon today at Joe Borja’s farm in Gualo Rai.
Participants will be welcomed and toured by Borja, his staffers and technical advisor, Ali Badilles.
For more information contact Joe Borja at 287-3007 or Ali Badilles at 285-9513.
