Although pineapple has only 1/4 the water requirement of most other crops, it still requires adequate supplies of good quality water to the root zone. Due to Antigua’s irregular annual rainfall pattern and extended drought periods, we have to irrigate all our crops.

Claremont Farms employs the latest in drip (trickle) irrigation technology in our pineapple crops to achieve the highest watering efficiency possible. After the land is ploughed, banked into ridges, and rotovated, the irrigation tubing is laid along the middle of the ridges.

To eliminate evaporation losses, a thin layer of plastic mulch is laid over the entire ridge and irrigation tubing. The pineapple suckers are planted directly through the mulch by hand which results in an impervious barrier to water evaporation loss. Using this method, we are able to irrigate up to 1 1/2 acres (~1/2 hectare) at one time, and new plantings start rooting within two weeks.

At the end of the crop cycle the irrigation tubing can be rolled up on large reels allowing us to use it over and over again.

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