GUWAHATI: The export of naturally grown, organically certified fresh pineapples from North-Eastern Region (NER), have seen a hike in International demand. With a production of 338.98 metric ton in 2020-21, Assam ranks second in pineapple production having a share of 18.75% in total production in India; second only to West Bengal.
Assam (2nd), Tripura (4th), Meghalaya (5th), Manipur (6th), Nagaland (7th) are in the top 10 list of pineapple producing states in India. Together, they amount to 48.25 percent of total pineapple production in the entire country.
The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently organised an in-store export promotion programme in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for pineapples among global consumers. This event is part of the government's strategy to promote locally produced agricultural products in the international markets.
Before Assam made its debut in pineapple export to Dubai in 2019, Tripura was the first northeastern state to export its ‘queen’ variety of pineapple to Dubai and Doha in 2018.
The top ten importing countries of Indian pineapples currently are UAE, Nepal, Qatar, Maldives, USA, Bhutan, Belgium, Iran, Bahrain and Oman. A quantity of 7665.42 MT of pineapples valued at USD 4.45 million was exported in the year 2021-22 as per the Ministry of Commerce & Industry press release.
With the intervention of APEDA, there has been a significant increase in the export of agricultural produce from NE states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Meghalaya in the last few years.
The NE region witnessed an 85.34 percent growth in the export of agricultural products in the last six years as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22. The major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe. In the last three years, APEDA organised 136 capacity building programmes on export awareness across the different parts of NER. Highest, 62 capacity building programmes were held in NER in 2019-20, while 21 in 2020-21 and 53 such programmes were organised by APEDA in the year 2021-22.
Apart from capacity building initiatives, APEDA facilitated 22 International Buyer-Seller Meets as well as trade fairs in NER in the last three years.
On the occasion, APEDA chairman Dr M Angamuthu stressed on promoting processed form of value-added pineapple to sustain in the global export market for a longer time period.
