ASD's history began as an effort by Chiquita Brands International (CBI) to develop new and better crops for the hot humid tropics of Central and South America, where it had been involved in agricultural operations for almost a century.

The origin of the oil palm industry in the Western world dates back to the days of the Tropical Research Division (TRD) of the United Fruit Company (UFC), Chiquita's former name. The TRD was CBI's Research and Development arm during most of the first half of the twentieth century, and was one of the largest private scientific initiatives ever undertaken in the development of the region's agriculture. These diversification efforts led to the introduction of important new crops and to the development of excellent germplasm collections, such as cocoa in Costa Rica and the Lancetilla Botanical Garden in Honduras where the first oil palms were introduced to Central America in 1926.

By 1942, CBI had begun its first oil palm field experiments, working with planting material introduced from Southeast Asia and West Africa and producing the first important results: the identification of lines from the East Indies (now Indonesia) - basically Deli dura lines - as the best planting material. Over the next decade or so, several small oil palm plantations were developed on some of the million and a quarter hectares under the company's control at the time. Within a short period, oil palm plantations were started in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. During the next two decades, Chiquita continued with large-scale oil palm operations only in Costa Rica and Honduras, though several of the initial ventures developed into major oil palm production areas. Areas such as Quinindé in the coastal region of Ecuador, Santa Maria in northwest Colombia, the northern coast of Honduras, and the central and south Pacific coast of Costa Rica were either initially planted by Chiquita, or were supplied by Chiquita with the first commercial planting material almost fifty years ago.

During the early and mid-1940s, Chiquita established the Americas' first large-scale oil palm plantations in Honduras and Costa Rica as part of a crop diversification effort, apart from the banana business. By 1950, the first oil palm mill was commissioned in Quepos, Costa Rica. This oil palm plantation, located on the country's central Pacific coast, eventually became one of the largest plantations in the Western Hemisphere.

The Numar Group, which had operated as Chiquita's vegetable oil division since the early 1 960's, has developed into the largest edible oils enterprise in Central America. The company's processes and activities are vertically integrated, from agricultural technology development, seed production, and plantations to extraction mills, refineries, manufacturing, sales, and distribution. At the end of 1995, the Numar Group separated from CB[ to continue under the control of Central American and British entrepreneurs. Nowadays the Numar Group holds more than 26,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

Research and Development

Although Chiquita's oil palm research began in the late 1940s, the process gathered momentum during the mid 1960s. After a decade or so, the research unit known as the Palm Research Program (PRP) had succeeded in building up a truly enormous Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera germplasm bank, today considered among the largest and most diverse in the world. From this basic work, PRP has developed eight different varieties suited to diverse environments, plus a promising hybrid named “Compact”, which produces larger quantities of less saturated (more fluid) oil, and has a longer commercial life. Seeds of the Compact material are now available commercially.

Until 1960, the company's research objectives focused primarily on the search for planting material and the development and improvement of oil extraction technology. However, in that year research began on agricultural management and plant pathology, and the first fertilization experiments were carried out. During the following two decades, important research projects on pollination, weed and soil management, seed physiology and germination were conducted. However, the most significant R&D progress came after 1986 when the Tissue Culture Program was initiated and the Agronomy and Plant Protection Departments ventured into new fields.

Between 1960 and 1974, UFC used the Lancetila Dell dura introductions to produce planting material for its own operations. In 1975, UFC began producing seeds at the PRP station in Coto, Costa Rica, and the first batches of seeds were exported to Honduras and Colombia in 1977.

ASD

The initial success of the seed enterprise highlighted a major gap in the market for high quality seeds in Latin America, a situation that prompted the establishment of ASD de Costa Rica SA. in 1986. In 1987, ASD exported seeds to Africa for the first time and a year later ventured into the seed market in Southeast Asia. To date, ASD has supplied more than 127 million seeds (enough for planting nearly 700,000 hectares) to 33 countries in the continents mentioned above.

ASD's worldwide prestige and rapid growth stems from a creative approach that has set very high standards of quality in the international market. The company not only supplies excellent oil palm planting materials, but also offers technical support, consultation services, and training in all the areas of oil palm cultivation. ASD has provided these services to many government organizations, international agencies, and private companies in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.