A consignment of 15 tons of pineapples, cultivated in Cachar district’s Lakhipur sub-division, has been exported to the global markets in Dubai, for the first time, on Sunday.

Jakir Hussain Choudhury, district agriculture officer, Cachar, talking to Northeast Now: “The move has been initiated by the department of horticulture, Assam, and executed through the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the ministry of commerce and industry, Govt. of India. We are just acting as a catalyst for the 2000 odd farmers of Hmarkhawlien area of Lakhipur, wher it is extensively cultivated.”

“It is a pilot project for which 10,000 pineapples, at around 15 tons, have been loaded in a refrigerated container that would travel all the way to Mumbai from wher these products would be sent to Dubai. If the efforts pay off in the global markets with people enjoying the tastes of the pineapples from this region, new vistas would open up for these farmers engaged in organic cultivation,” said Choudhury.