For the first time, the government has agreed to close a pineapple plantation because of pollution of drinking water. Despite appeals by the company, the plantation is scheduled to be closed on 5th April 2008.

A few facts on the pineapple boom and its consequences

1)  The model of industrial pineapple plantations has consequences for the environmental, society and workers' rights: the destruction of forest and water pollution; excessively long working days which do not allow workers to do more than live to work in the pineapple plantation, unable to have a family life or play a role in their community; the violation of male and female workers' rights, in particular migrant workers.                                                                                                                                                              
2)  Bad pineapple waste and residue management has led to the development of a plague of “blood-sucking” flies - stomoxys calcitrans.  This plague of flies is causing millions of dollars worth of damage to livestock around the plantations. The fly sucks the cattle's blood, giving rise to sharp pains, deep skin lesions, high blood pressure, debilitation, weight-loss and even death. It has led to a sharp fall in milk and meat production for livestock farmers in neighbouring communities.

3)  There is indsicriminate use of highly toxic agrochemicals which pose a threat to human life. Studies by the  National University and the National Water Laboratory of the Water and Sewage Institute have found concentrations of 1.4 mg/litre of Bromacil in the drinking water supplies of Siquirres and Guacimo in Limon province. Residues of other chemicals used in pineapple production such as Diuron and Triademephon have also been found in water supplies. Bromacil is a component of “agent orange” which left millions of dead and genetically malformed from the Vietnam War. 

In the face of such serious issues, we cannot remain silent. We would like to be able to stay the world's leading exporters of top quality pineapples, because we want development, but not at the cost of thousands of people's livelihoods and rights as workers or farmers and not at the cost of our natural resources.

We Costa Ricans have a right to a future in which our land is not totally degraded by intensive production, a right to farm without being threatened by pollution and a right for our children to know what living forests and  rivers are like.

The message to workers inside the plantations is that we have to fight together to get the companies to respect labour and environmental legislation; people deserve work with dignity and respect. All we ask is that the rights fought for so hard by so many in this country and around the world be respected.

We want to make it clear to national and international opinion that we are not opposed to pineapple production, provided the environmental and social laws are respected and, above all, human dignity and basic human rights are respected.

To the industry, we address an appeal to work together to respect the legislation and corporate responsibility standards. In this way we would achieve what we want so much – environmentally and socially friendly production; it is also what consumers of fresh produce want in Europe and the rest of the world.

In the face of the current problems, and so as to join efforts to ensure that social and environmental legislation enforced, we have decided to create the National Coalition of communities affected by pineapple expansion.

We call on the public authorities to enforce the laws and foster the welfare of all the country's inhabitants.

END THE UNCONTROLLED PINEAPPLE EXPANSION, END POLLUTION, AND END THE VIOLATION OF WORKERS' RIGHTS

Click here to read a second open letter from Nicaraguan migrant pineapple workers on 'Costa Rica: a country that prides itself on its laws, but is deeply anti-union'(February 2008)