Finally - pineapply!

Have you ever wondered what pineapples look like when they are not in the supermarket? Do they hang down from palm trees? Are they lying on the ground like watermelons? or are they under ground like carrots? I have wondered.... And, finally I got to visit a pineapple farm and see these wonderful sweet fruits in their "natural habitat".

Pineapples, pineapples and more pineapples
We drove about 75 km north of Kampala to a district called Luweero. And finally:... as far as our eye could see: lots of "cactus/aloe vera like" plants, about a 1 meter tall. In between the plants we found pineapples! and Musamba Tonny, the owner of the pineapple farm.

In the middle of the "cactus like" plants we found pineapples!... and pineapple farmer Musamba Tonny.

Pineapple farmer Musamba Tonny is proud of his farm and his pineapples. Most of his pineapples are exported to Europe.

This is the secret! This is how it looks like! One pineapple fruit standing up in the middle of a big "cactus/aloe vera like" plant.

Before becoming a pineapple, it starts as a "flower" in the middle of the plant. Nice!

And then grows into a small pineapple, but still looks quite like a flower.

What is better than fresh pineapple from the market? Fresh pineapple eaten directly in the pineapple farm!  Peter is cutting it for us.

Me! - super duper happy to finally have seen (and held and eaten)  pineapple in its "natural habitat".

But no mangoes...

Because of too much rain this autumn, the mango season was delayed. It was supposed to come in October. We waited up to December. When it finally came, it brought only few and low quality mangoes. Unsuitable for developing our new products based on mango. Very disappointing for the project and for us, but even more disappointing for the farmers. The consequences for them are so much worse. The long awaited income has failed to come, parents can not pay for the children to go to school and the situation for some of the poorest people in Uganda becomes even more difficult.

So, now, both the farmers and we are again back to waiting for mango season. Next is expected to come in March. Will it come? Will it be a good one? Hopefully it will be! And the farmers will get their income and their hard work will bear fruits...

... And we will get the mangoes we need to develop and produce our new products. If we could do with only the pineapples... Life would be much easier then. Pineapples here also have seasons, but still they are available all year round. Unlike mangoes. 

Phu! Mango is such a difficult fruit! But, so incredible sweet and so incredible popular! So, it can't bee overlooked. Our products need mango. So, we are still waiting.

Hopefully, in a few months, I will be able to bring you nice fruity pictures from a mango farm full of mangoes! Until then, let's enjoy the pineapples.