Pineapples airlifted from Imphal for the first time

Imphal: For the first time organic pineapples produced by Manipur farmers were airlifted on Sunday to supply to different cities.

Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh flagged off the air shipment of 1.2 MT at Bir Tikendrajit International Airport. The pineapples airlifted was out of total target of 220 MT to supply for this year.

This was the third consecutive year, the Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) has started exporting locally grown organic pineapples to different cities.

Demand for locally grown organic pineapples has witnessed a steep rise in different cities in the past couple of years due to its unique taste and dedicated efforts from MOMA, the agency which comes under the department of horticulture and social conservation.

During 2018 and 2019, the agency exported a total of 250 MT of organic pineapples to cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Mumbai etc. This year as well, it has been able to improve the quantity of export despite the persistent inconveniences given by Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of around 220 MT of queen variety of pineapples are to be airlifted in different phases to cities like, Delhi, Mumbai, Ludhiana (Chandigarh), etc. with assistance from a local private company known as Krooshi-Karma Naturals Pvt. Ltd. These pineapples were grown and produced under the Phase-II of Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North East Region (MOVCDNER).

The chief minister who also holds the horticulture and soil conservation portfolio, said farmers need not worry for the market to sell their produces now. Assuring that the government would buy all their produces, the chief minister informed that a corpus fund of Rs 3 crore has been created for this purpose by the government.

“Manipur would become a self-sufficient and self-reliant State only when its agriculture and horticulture produces are increased by giving thrust to these sectors,” Biren said.

Mentioning about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popular slogan, ‘Vocal for Local’, the chief minister opined that the state needs to work hard to change and upgrade indigenous and local produces into the items of global standard. This would serve as a lucrative means for generating income for farmers and people of the state, he said and added that the government would always extend all possible support and also award incentives to hard working farmers.

Responding to a query regarding price hike, the chief minister asked the shopkeepers to sell all the items as per the prices fixed by the government. He said that the government would be compelled to take action against the erring shopkeepers and traders if they continue to charge exorbitant price from the people at this time of hardship.