Over 300 metric tons of queen pineapple exported outside

Tripura has exported over 300 metric tons of queen variety of pineapple to other states of the country and neighbouring Bangladesh so far this year, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Saturday said.

Tripura produces three major varieties of pineapples - Kew, Queen and Bombay. Queen pineapples are considered most exotic and are highly priced.

"More than 300 metric tons of queen variety of pineapple was exported outside the state including Bangladesh so far this year as the production increased over last year's," he said at a workshop here.

Great stress has been laid on developing local resource-based industries and entrepreneurship since the BJP- IPFT government assumed office last year, Deb added.

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Rameshwar Teli, who participated in the programme said more employment would be generated with the development of the food processing industries in the country.

"After the formation of the BJP government in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started giving priority for development of North East. The region is bestowed with different types of fruits. Many of those fruits can be exported directly or after processing to capture international markets. We are planning to make ice cream cones using jackfruit", Teli said.

When contacted, state horticulture department's assistant director Dipak Baidya said the state has produced about 1.28 lakh metric tons of pineapples of different varieties in the season this year in 8,700 hectares. About 4,000 farmers are directly involved in the production of the fruit.

The department has taken up promotional activities for growth of the fruit round the year, he said adding that the state government facilitates shippng out of the pineapples through exporters, he said.

Last year 30 metric tons of queen pineapple was exported to Dubai and Doha as part of the state government's aggressive push for the fruit's promotion, officials said