The Department of Agriculture's new pineapple-based leather production project has been supported officially by Dole Philippines. Ananas Anam Founder, Carmen Hijosa, developed the technology which processes pineapple leaves turning them into leather to be used by shoemakers, in furniture or car manufacturing.
“Top officials of Dole Philippines have pledged to donate to poor families pineapple leaves from their 18,000-hectare plantations all over Mindanao,” Piñol said in his Facebook post.
“With over 18,000 hectares of pineapple plantations, Dole Philippines’s support to the Piñatex natural leather production could lift thousands of farmers from poverty,” he said.
With pineapple leaves and pulp usually left to rot in the fields with no particular use, they hope this newfound purpose for the leaves can help lift up people in the community and offer a new market for sellers to thrive in.
