Rise of exports in Tripura by Dipankar Chakraborty

Amidst all the negativity of pandemic, a ray of hope came from the department of horticulture. after successfully exporting Queen pine apple and lemon, the State is eyeing to export jack fruit.

First consignment of 350 jackfruits was sent to Guwahati, which will be exported to United kingdom via Delhi. The department received proposal from The Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority(APEDA) and accordingly a Guwahati based company kiega Exims private company coordinated with krishi sanyoga agro producer company limited to meet the task.

In this trial run , a number of 350 jackfruits with weights between 3 to 4 kg has been exported for which farmers will get Rs 30 from the company. Tripura’s agriculture minister also shared his thoughts on the success of the state. Earlier  in 2018- 2019,  Tripura exported 5.15 MT of queen pineapple to countries like United State of Arab Emirates and Qatar and 1.5 MT kew pineapple has been exported to different part of the country.

During 2019 – 2020, 3500 MT kew and queen pineapple has been exported to different  part of the  country.
and during 2020-2021, 2083 MT pine apple has been exported to different part of the country and 10 MT pineapple was exported to Dubai. Tripura exported 4000 scented lemon during 2019-2020.

Tripura being a tropical state has immense potential on horticulture. Indigenous fruits like Jalpai(olives), pomelo(jambura), tekrai, lichi, java apple, breadfruit etc. can make the farmers richer and can be a boon for the export of the state.
Recently farmers started producing exotic fruits like dragon fruits, green apple, and strawberries, which can be a start of new era for the state’s horticulture sector.

State government also started to incentivize farmers for adopting horticulture . Steps like considering Sapri Banana as fruit of the district of unokoti, GI tag of Queen pine apple, incentivizing lemon farmers, distributing saplings to vegetable farmers, introducing Mega food park etc.

The state government is committed towards its commitment of doubling farmers income in coming days and with more such initiatives, we can expect an Atmanirbhar Tripura soon.