Juicy delight

Nov. 19: Left at the mercy of middlemen, farmers who toil at the hilltop pineapple plantations dotting Lakhipur subdivision of Cachar district seldom reap the fruits of their labour. But they need not despair. Several top fruit processing companies are now interested in buying pineapples grown in this south Assam district.

A roundtable was held at Cachar deputy commissioner Gautam Ganguli’s office in Silchar on Friday to devise a strategy to build on the opportunity.

Representatives of the beverages industry, including soft drink giant Pepsi, promised to consider the proposal to source raw material from the district.

Sources said some of these companies could set up processing plants in the district to churn out juice and squash or transport the horticultural produce to their units elsewhere in the country.

Former Cachar deputy commissioner Arun Kumar, at present a director in the Rural Electric Corporation under the Union power ministry, took the initiative in getting fruit-processing majors interested in the venture.

Kumar invited one of Pepsico Inc’s directors, M.S. Parikh, S. Manjunath of Natural Food Ltd, P.P. Singh of Rasna and N.R. Sarma of the Guwahati-based Purbachal Food Production to visit Cachar and survey the lush pineapple plantations. Their objective was to explore the feasibility of utilising pineapples grown in the district and provide insights into better marketing avenues for growers.

Ganguli said the team surveyed several pineapple plantations and, on their return to Silchar, expressed satisfaction with the quality of the produce. “We expect positive feedback on our business ideas from each of them.”

The hub of pineapple farming in the district is Hmarhawlien village, a Hmar village. It is inhabited by about 400 families who cultivate the fruit twice a year, once in winter and in July. Their annual output is pegged at 60,000 tonnes. However, the price they get for their labour — Rs 3,000 a tonne — is paltry by market standards.

“Pineapple farmers of Cachar lack marketing facilities and are fleeced by middlemen and moneylenders,” an official of the horticulture department said.

Lack of adequate transport infrastructure is another major hurdle.

Ronsungthang, an elderly pineapple-grower from Hmarkhawlien village, said the visit by representatives of top companies was reason to hope that the worst is behind them. “If these proposals work, our lives will change for the better.”

Hmarhawlien pineapples have a uniquely sweet and tangy flavour. It is believed that a British Christian missionary started pineapple farming in this Hmar tribal enclave in the last part of the nineteenth century. He also brought scores of tribal farmers from Tripura to engage them in pineapple cultivation.