Consignments of Tripura’s Queen Pineapple left for SAFAL ,Mother Dairy ,New Delhi on Tuesday from Sepahijala. The whole process is facilitated by Directorate of Horticulture and Soil Conservation. As many as four quintals of pineapple consignments were sent by Krishak Veej Kalyan FPC Limited, Mohanbhog, Sepahijala Tripura.
The Tripura Queen Pineapple is a GI tagged fruit and Sesta Development Service (SDS) a Guwahati based organisation working for the FPO project in different blocks of the state are providing market linkages to the Farmers Producers Companies. It has planned for its marketing beyond the Northeast on different produces.
The first consignment of this year four quintals of fresh Queen Pineapple was air-freighted to New Delhi by Indigo Airlines from Agartala. The SDS is also planning to procure similar fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ Producers Company across the state, said an official. .
Due to landslide railway related restrictions in movement etc, SDS is taking the lead in providing national marketing linkages to the FPCs.
It may be mentioned here that the Queen Pineapple is also the state fruit of Tripura and it is a much-revered crop of the farmers of the state. The locals strongly believe that even if any other crop fails because of unfavourable circumstances, the pineapple will stand tall being the viable crop for survival providing substantial income each year.
It is worth mentioning here that the farmers of Tripura have pioneered the art of cultivation of the queen pineapple and the state is one of the largest pineapple growing states in India with commercial-scale plantations spread across the state.
Tripura grows an estimated 1.28 metric tonnes of pineapple every year across 8,800 hectares of land.
The productivity of pineapple per hectare is 18.73 tons which are higher than the national average of 15.80 tons. For queen pineapple Sepahijala district holds the record for the highest yield per hectare. The records say that more than 4,000 growers are actively involved in the cultivation of Tripura’s state fruit
