The rollercoaster life of the Swiss ‘pineapple king’

Johann Dähler with workers on his pineapple plantation in Tiassalé, Ivory Coast. SRF

Johann Dähler, a Thurgau farmer's son who found success in Africa and Central America by growing and selling pineapples, passed away earlier this month after a short illness.

Dähler died aged 70 in Bern, his son Stéphane confirmed to the 20Minuten tabloid on September 8.

His life was a series of ups and downs. In 1972, shortly after completing Swiss army training, the young man from Fruthwilen, canton Thurgau, discovered a thirst for adventure. He left Switzerland for Africa, more precisely the Ivory Coast, where he first discovered pineapples and worked in a cannery. 

Returning home, he realised that Swiss supermarkets did not stock fresh pineapples, presenting an ideal business opportunity.

Pineapple drama: rise, fall and escape

Dähler slowly built up his business, exporting fresh pineapples to Switzerland via Swissair. He went on to buy the largest pineapple plantation in the Ivory Coast, which covered 2,000 hectares and employed 1,500 people.

But at the turn of the millennium things went downhill and he lost all of his land overnight. Unable to get loans to finance his business, his plantations in Africa went bankrupt. He fled the Ivory Coast to escape his debtors and returned to Switzerland penniless.

>>> A 2010 documentary in German about Johann Dähler by Swiss public television SRF.

Meanwhile, a civil war had broken out in the West African country following a military coup. Dähler’s wife Jolanda and their three small children were still in the capital Abidjan at the time and had to flee in a secret operation. 

Success in Costa Rica and return to West Africa

Back in Switzerland, he traded fruit and dreamed of returning to the Ivory Coast. Dähler never gave up the fight. He continued to work obsessively and successfully built a new pineapple plantation in 2004, this time in Costa Rica. 

But he still dreamed of Africa. He eventually returned to the Ivory Coast for the first time in over ten years with a secret plan: to buy back the old plantations. This time his target was the rubber trees that he had planted shortly before his business went bankrupt.

But as he got older, Dähler suffered due to the difficult West African climate. And following a heart attack, he decided to move his main residence back to Switzerland. He suffered from other health issues: his wife also donated a kidney to her husband.

Now, following his death, his last wish will be fulfilled: Dähler wanted to be buried on the Ivorian plantation next to the chapel he built for local workers. 

Translated from German by Simon Bradley.