IMPHAL, JULY 29 (NNN): Manipur Horticulture & Soil Conservation Department today achieved a major milestone as one metric tonne (1 MT) of organic pineapples grown in the State was airlifted today to Delhi from the Imphal International Airport. This is the first ever airlift of locally grown organic pineapples from the State. Horticulture & Soil Conservation Department had tied up with NE Agro Products, a Gurgaon based company for selling fresh organic and chemical free pineapples (850 grams to 1.5 kilograms) for ‘queen’ and ‘kew’ varieties. The pineapples are produced by the Organic Pineapple Growers of Thayong, Andro, Waithou Chiru, where queen variety is cultivated and Bunglon and Khousabung where kew variety is cultivated under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD-NER) implemented by the Mission Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) in the State. At present, 600 organic growers/farmers are cultivating organic pineapples covering 600 hectares of land under phase-1 of the scheme and another 1,000 growers/farmers are being promoted at 1,000 hectares of land under the phase-II of the mission. The seasonal fruit is available in the State from the month of July to October. Addressing media persons at his New Secretariat office in Imphal, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Minister, Thounaojam Shyamkumar described the first ever airlifting of the consignment of organic pineapples to Delhi as a new dawn for the department and for the organic farmers of the State. Encouraging the organic farmers of the State, he asked them to work harder and cultivate more pineapples as the government is committed to provide a suitable market for the pineapples. He opined that the pineapples of the State will surely leave a mark among the people from outside the State for its unique taste and flavour which will further increase the demand. K. Debadutta Sarma, Project Director, MOMA said till now the State has been unable to fulfill the demands from the outside the State due to lack of post harvest infrastructures, logistic arrangements & facilities, cold chain infrastructures in the State. The pineapple farmers have been facing uncertain market and heavy post-harvest losses around 30-40% due to market glut and stagnation. He further said the NE Agro Products have agreed to airlift 1 MT of pineapples everyday or every alternative day till the produces are available with the farmers. NE Agro Products, Krushi Karma Naturals Pvt. Ltd and MOMA have collaborated for airlifting the pineapples, it was informed.
