Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, a consignment of 10 tons of pineapples from Darchai village in North Tripura has left for Dubai on June 24. The consignment was transported from Kumarghat to Mumbai by road in a container for Dubai. Another consignment of 500 kg was flown from Agartala airport to New Delhi for the local market.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Pranajit Singharoy said that a Dubai-based businessman. with the help of a common service centre Kisan e-mart portal, placed the order of procurement and accordingly. department prepared the consignment.

Growers who used to sell pineapples in local markets at a very low price have got a very attractive price for their produce for past two years, but COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the export opportunity for past two months despite having a huge production of pineapple in the state.

However, this was the first consignment sent from the state, as COVID-19 situation closed down the domestic market. Besides. UK and Middle East. huge consignments of pineapple was exported to all metros of the country in last two years. which had encouraged the farmers to increase pineapple production but this year the experience affected the producers badly.