With over 12,000 hectares devoted to the cultivation of the fruit, pineapple is a critical commercial enterprise inside the northeastern country of Tripura.
It's no surprise that then-President ram nath kovind declared the standard queen pineapple as Tripura's national fruit in 2018. Now, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) looks to commit over ₹132 crore to sell Tripura's queen pineapple on the global degree.
The state government of Tripura has been looking for avenues to make bigger the attainment of its 'queen' type of the fruit for a while now. And the ultra-modern flow through the DoNER ministry is anticipated to help matters, after it took notice of the concept it received from the kingdom ministry.
Tripura produces as a minimum 1.77 tons of pineapple a year. Organically grown queen pineapples inside the kingdom are expected to have a strong call for in worldwide markets, especially with today's push for healthy and chemical-free produce. Phani Bhusan Jamatia, director of the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department in Tripura, advised corporations that the kingdom's Agriculture minister Ratan Lal Nath held a web meeting with DoNER minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and different officers on thursday in this regard.
"Within the assembly, our minister highlighted the unique taste, flavor, and nutritional cost of the [queen] pineapple, which makes it highly marketable globally," delivered Jamatia.
However, organically grown fruit is, without problems, perishable. And pineapples generally tend to smash in six to eight days. This calls for exploring techniques in maintenance that don't involve dangerous chemicals. Consistent with the legit, the country government in Tripura might keep in mind "secure hormonal remedies to extend freshness."
The significance of queen Pineapples
Queen pineapples of Tripura are harvested from May through mid-August. Aside from upkeep strategies, the government is also looking at processing and packaging alternatives to extend the life of the fruit. Agartala already has an integrated packaging facility, according to Jamatia, with another one predicted to be ready in Nalakata in a month.
The union ministry has additionally driven for the use of today's agri-tech to improve the yield and first-rate of pineapples. These consist of drones, synthetic intelligence (AI), and an array of IT tools.
Aside from queen pineapples, the opposite variety available in Tripura is the 'kew pineapple.' Even as queen pineapples are spiny, golden yellow in color, and weigh around 600 to 800 grams (TSS content material at 10° to 14° brix), kew pineapples are spineless, juicier, and extensively large at 1.5 to 3kg (TSS content at 8° to 12° brix).
However, the queen rules. "The queen pineapple range produced in Tripura isn't always just highly special in comparison with different sorts grown some other place in india but additionally drastically distinctive in fine from the same range grown in different adjoining states of the Northeast," in keeping with a study inside the worldwide magazine of Agriculture, Environment, and Biotechnology (IJAEB), "it's miles the most famous and exquisite cultivar of Tripura for clean intake."
Pineapple farming in Tripura is likewise steady with neighborhood ideals. In line with Tripura farmers, 'pineapple in no way betrays.' While other plants failed because of sudden modifications in climate or climate cycles, pineapple's penchant for being a viable crop that survived more odds supposed it supplied generations of Tripura farmers with consistent profits year on year. Moreover, demand hasn't waned. queen pineapple was ₹2 apiece in 2018. In 2024, it soared to ₹32, in keeping with fruit—16 times its rate six years in the past!
Notwithstanding Tripura being a delegated agri Export Area (AEZ), a chunk of its significantly small exports outside the united states go to dubai and Muscat. Recent geopolitical traits in bangladesh added to export woes, adding to the wastage of the fruit. The modern-day flow with the aid of the DoNER ministry and the kingdom government is anticipated to reduce the distress in surplus queen pineapple production.
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