Consignment of fresh Queen Pineapple of Tripura boarded for the New Delhi market on May 31.

The Tripura Queen Pineapple is a GI tagged fruit and SIMFED- a Sikkim based organisation working objectively for the MOVCDNER project in the different states of the northeast- have initiated providing market linkages to the Farmers Producers Companies.

It has planned for its marketing beyond the northeast on different organic produces.

The first consignment of 0.54 MT of fresh Queen Pineapple was air-freighted to New Delhi by Indigo Airlines from Agartala on May 31.

The Queen Pineapple was sourced from M/S Chokhreng Organic Producer Company, West Tripura.

SIMFED is also planning to procure similar fruits and vegetables from the farmers' Producers Company across the northeast.

Despite COVID-19 related restrictions in movement etc, SIMFED is taking the lead in providing national marketing linkages to the FPCs.

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SIMFED (Sikkim State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited, Gangtok) is a Govt. of Sikkim Organisation actively associated with organic projects across the northeast.

It may be mentioned here that the Queen Pineapple is also the state fruit of Tripura and it is a much-revered crop of the farmers of the state.

The locals strongly believe that even if any other crop fails because of unfavourable circumstances, the pineapple will stand tall being the viable crop for survival providing substantial income each year.

It is worth mentioning here that the farmers of Tripura have pioneered the art of cultivation of the queen pineapple and the state is one of the largest pineapple growing states in India with commercial-scale plantations spread across the state.

Tripura grows an estimated 1.28 metric tonnes of pineapple every year across 8,800 hectares of land.

The productivity of pineapple per hectare is 18.73 tons which are higher than the national average of 15.80 tons.

It is worth mentioning here that the Dhalai district holds the record for the highest yield per hectare production in the state with a whopping 21.88 tons.

The records say that more than 4,000 growers are actively involved in the cultivation of Tripura's state fruit.