Crops we work with
Ananas comosus
Pineapple grown under a light canopy of trees, on soil designed to keep its fertility from one cycle to the next.
Most pineapple is grown in open-field monoculture. The plants stand in full sun, the soil lies bare between cycles, and when yields drop farmers clear new land. In Benin, farmers often crop only a third of their pineapple land at a time and leave a third in fallow so the soil can recover.
ECOTOP brings Dynamic Agroforestry to pineapple. Pineapple goes in at the start of the system, together with maize, cassava and pigeon pea, while young fruit, timber and biomass trees grow up around it. Pruned branches and leaves cover the soil, and the trees shade the fruit in the hottest months.
Our approach
A programme built with you, from the first field visit to whole cooperatives farming this way, with local people trained to run it.
In Benin, ECOTOP works with Tradin Organic and the RePAB cooperative to move more than 1,600 smallholders to Dynamic Agroforestry. Training combines field days with digital lessons on the SkillEd platform, and farms are working towards Regenerative Organic Certified status. Women carry much of this supply chain, so the project includes governance training aimed at them.
The difference
Pruned biomass covers and feeds the soil and holds moisture, so the same land can carry crop after crop instead of being left fallow.
A light canopy protects the fruit from sunburn and heat stress during heatwaves.
Maize, cassava, pigeon pea and later fruit and timber trees grow on the same plot, so income does not depend on pineapple alone.
Fertility comes from pruned biomass grown on the plot, with no synthetic fertilisers or pesticides, which fits organic and regenerative certification.
Partners
Evidence
Research · 10 minA long-term trial shows agroforestry can match conventional yields with far greater resilience.
Article · 6 minWhy diverse, managed systems out-yield single-crop maximization.
Article · 6 minHow Dynamic Agroforestry stores carbon and rebuilds landscapes.
Our services
From first assessment to handover to a local team.
Learn more →Trainers who farm DAF themselves, with follow-up on the plot until soils and yields show it.
Learn more →Carbon measured in the field, certification-ready.
Learn more →Field data, plot maps and dashboards. EUDR on the same data.
Learn more →Two long-term trials, peer-reviewed results.
Learn more →ECOTOP helps producers and buyers move pineapple out of open-field monoculture and into Dynamic Agroforestry. Let’s talk about your pineapple.
Talk to our team
