Imphal, August 27 2010: For tenant farmer J Hechuon,62 of Bunglon village, pineapple cultivation in his 2 hectares of agricultural land on the slopes of Khousabung area hill range in Manipur's Churachandpur district has been his main occupation since the last five decades.

In the eighties he used to get a profit of about Rs 20,000 annually from pineapple cultivation but now it has increased upto Rs 50,000 .

"This year I'm expecting not less than Rs 60,000",Hechuon who is head of a 10 member family and this year's Songpu Gangte Farmer Award winner told this reporter during the 3rd Manipur Pineapple festival.

The festival was inaugurated by local MLA Manga Vaiphei in presence of DC Churachandpur Jacintha Lazarus and Chairman Churachandpur ADC Langkhanpau Guite at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam ground, Bunglon on Friday.

Like him, almost all the 60 households of Bunglon including Heshiah(50),a teacher by profession also enjoy similar incomes to run their families from pineapple farming.

Farmers of neighbouring villages such Khousabung having around 80 households have also taken up the occupation."In the past there was no encouragement from any quarters to do pineapple farming",H Soizalal,Chairman of Manipur Pineapple Festival Committee(MPFC) said."But after the introduction of Pineapple Festival,now more than 10,000 farmers have started cultivating around 10 lakhs pineapple plants".

May be because of such awareness, representatives of villages in the Khousabung area, mostly women farmers including a young lady Denila Kom,27 of Phungchongjang village actively participated in the pineapple exhibition cum sale of the two day festival, Kihom Kumhei in Manipuri language or Leng-thei meaning king of fruits in Kuki dialect.

According to MPFC chairman,around 72,000 metric tons of pineapples were produced from a farm land measuring around 80,000 hectares in Manipur,of which 40,000 metric tons were consumed locally while the remaining were exported outside the state in various forms.

The two most-sought-after varieties Pineapple-Kew (big size) and Queen (small size) are produced on a commercial scale in Manipur.Those available in Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts are Kew while those in Imphal east and Thoubal are Queen.

The 8-month availability of pineapples in Manipur makes the State highly advantageous for fruit processing and export.

The specialty of Manipur is the Kew variety known for it's distinctive taste and flavour .The Kew variety is most suited for making canned fruit products.

Canned pineapples form a part of the major exports in Processed Fruit Industry in the state and in the region.

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