Pineapple festival for whom ?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 04, 2012 -

Much water has flowed under the bridge since the 1st State Level Manipur Pineapple Festival which was held at Khousabung in Churachandpur district in 2008 to the latest 5th edition of the festival witnessed at the craft and mela ground of Sendra in Bishnupur district on September 1.

The main objective of organizing the festival is said to be to 'to bring all the Pineapple farmers of Manipur under one common platform, to find out their problems and difficulties and to look for viable markets and encourage farmers for better harvest'.

Five years down the line, the time has come for the Manipur Pineapple Festival Committee, the organizer of the festival, to review whether the stated objective has been achieved or not.

In every edition of the festival, we never failed to see Ministers and MLAs trooping in to talk about the potential of Pineapple cultivation in Manipur and exhort the growers for increasing their production.

They also never failed to underline the need for proper marketing facilities of the products so that the Pineapple growers could earn income in commensurate to the hard work put in.

However, such assurances and exhortations have never been able to uplift the living condition of the poor Pineapple growers and their enthusiasm over participation in an annual festival organized specially for them is waning over the years. The organizer should think over why this is happening?

The failure of translating the laid down objective of the festival into action and going back on the assurances given has been at the root cause of decreasing number of participating Pineapple growers in the annual festival down the years.

When the initiative of organizing the Pineapple festival at the state level was taken for the first time in 2008, a lot of enthusiasm and optimism had been generated among the Pineapple growers all over the state.

They thought that the problem of marketing their products and fetching adequate income for their sweats and toils would become a thing of the past.

However, even after five years, Pineapple growers continue to face the problem of marketing their products, and fetching adequate income for their hard work is still a distant dream.

On the other hand, giving undue importance to the entertainment part of festival like Pineapple Queen Contest has not only diverted the attention of the people but also stolen the main spotlight from the Pineapple growers, for whom the festival has been organized in the first place.

It is absurd on the part of the organizer to come up with the idea of giving away handsome cash reward of Rs 50,000, Rs 40,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively to the winner, 1st runner up and 2nd runner up of the contest while the poor Pineapple growers, who participated in the festival, are given some simple certificates made of paper and nothing else.

So much for encouragement of Pineapple growers in State!!