Limburg growers fill greenhouse with tropical papaya

What started with a test set-up at Wageningen University is now a greenhouse in Wellerlooi with thousands of melon trees, on which the tropical papaya grows. Four Limburg growers, normally active with vine tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, together exploit this first commercial greenhouse papaya of the Netherlands. This provides an alternative for the complicated and environmentally harmful logistics of importing the tropical fruit.

Avocado, papaya and mango

Which tropical fruits have potential in the greenhouses of Dutch horticulture companies? With this question the Business Unit Horticulture and Flower Bulbs of Wageningen University & Research started a study on the cultivation of avocado, papaya and mango. From those three crops, the papaya turned out to have the most potential in the short term. A papaya is the fruit of a so-called melon tree and is mainly imported from South America. The fruit grows directly on the trunk, under a leaf.

Four growers from the Sunfresh growers association in Venlo were involved in the Wagening University study and decided to take the plunge and start growing their own papaya. They started with 1 hectare of potted melon trees in Weyers' greenhouse in Wellerslooi. That has now expanded to twelve thousand trees on four hectares, which have been harvested since last autumn. In the summer the trees produce about thirty thousand papayas per week, in the winter about half. In order to be able to grow year-round, lighting is used.

Sustainable business

Growing a tropical fruit on its own soil has a significant environmental benefit. In a interview with AGF, Roel Surminski of Weyers says: "It fits in with these times, in which there is a lot of attention for sustainable business. Normally papayas come from the other side of the world. Dutch cultivation results in an enormous reduction of food miles and a more efficient use of water. Despite the fact that we have to heat the greenhouses, the whole environmental picture looks very positive. In addition, in the Dutch greenhouse we have the possibility to harvest the fruit ready for consumption according to the customer's wishes. Moreover, we have succeeded so far in using no pesticides."

Future

The ambition does not stop at the current size. "Of course as a grower you want it to be a success. That in ten years there will not be four hectares here but ten times as many," says grower Roy Steegh. The fruits are now sold to German customers, but the growers also hope to gain a foothold in the Dutch market, where the papaya is still less known.

View images of the greenhouse in the video of 1Limburg: