Ebola outbreak presents new challenge on sucker supply line

May 8, 2014

To date, we have received all of our starter suckers from Africa Felix Juice (AFJ), a processing facility owned in part by World Hope International and located on the First Step special economic zone in Sierra Leone. AFJ is the company that will buy the fruit from the pineapple farms we are helping to develop, so they are a critical partner for us. Sucker demand from other growers, weather conditions and even outbreaks such as Ebola all affect our sucker delivery schedule. We have to roll with the punches and exhibit agility that this business environment demands. The Ebola outbreak, for example, has stopped all trips to Guinea to retrieve suckers, which has stopped all sucker deliveries to Sierra Leone. The search for more suckers will continue, as will our monitoring of the Ebola outbreak. The latest update we have received from AFJ is that we can expect 30,000 more suckers this month; however, everyone involved agrees that this timeline is subject to change. A current update on the Ebola outbreak is here.