Move to grow organic pineapples in NE

GUWAHATI, August 7: The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), in a bid to encourage export of pineapples from the Northeast is experimenting with the cultivation of organic pineapple in the region for which there is a good market, especially in Europe. Almost 19 per cent of the total land under horticultural crops in the region is devoted to pineapple cultivation and Assam, along with Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur, are among the major pineapple producing states in the country. However, it is only now that an attempt is being made to grow the fruit organically in the region. The effort is being undertaken as part of the APEDA's drive to develop model organic farms in the region. A ten hectare plot of land is being prepared near Agartala to attempt organic cultivation of pineapple. The model farms were launched on May 15 this year with similar experimental organic cultivation of jowa rice and sugarcane at Sipajhar. According to the field officer at the APEDA's regional office here, Bidyut Kr Barua, organic agricultural products have a good market in Europe and the US. He sees a great potential for pineapples grown in this region, especially of the organic variety. According to Barua, apart from pineapples, jowa rice and sugarcane organic cultivation of passion fruit is also being tried at Mao. Organic cultivation has to adhere to well-defined norms, procedures and practices for the preparation of land, application of inputs such as seeds, organic manure, etc. as per rigorous certification guidelines. The APEDA is involving non-governmental organisations to train farmers in the necessary manner. A monitoring team has been formed to keep track of the developments, Barua says. The main idea of the model organic farms is to involve nine to ten farmers in ten hectare of land so that others can follow it up. The APEDA plans to have an European certification agency to certify the organic products. It is planning to bring one such agency to the region to study the model farms. All the efforts are ultimately aimed at creating a special niche for the organic farm products of the Northeast in the export market. The stress is being put on pineapple which is one of the primary horticultural products of the region. The main target in Europe is Germany which has the largest demand for organic food products, says Barua. Even otherwise, there is enough scope for export of pineapples that can be tapped. Already there are attempts being made to explore new export markets. Negotiations are on between a Mumbai-based export firm with the Nagaland food processing department. Another exporter is looking for pineapple slices in glass jars instead of tin cans. APEDA is also trying to take the region's pineapples to markets in the Middle East, Barua says.