From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Emphasizing on good productivity in the field of pineapple cultivation in the state, Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury on Saturday urged the DoNER Ministry to boost the NERAMAC factory at Nalakata in Dhalai district.
Though ‘local’ pineapples are good in term of quality, per hectare yield of the seasonal fruit is less with compared to other states like Karnataka.
While Tripura produces 20 MT per hectares, in Karnataka it records around 50 MT per hectares, said Chowdhury while speaking at the two-day Pineapple Meet at Prajna Bhavan here.
Calling upon the ICAR and Agricultural scientists to look at how to increase the production of pineapple, he strongly advocated adoption scientific techniques to ensure better return in terms of revenue.
Chowdhury said that there would no dearth of land for extension of pineapple cultivation as huge hilly areas still remained vacant.
About 1.80 lakh hectares of land have been distributed among the forest dwellers under the Forest Dwellers’ Act in the state. “This land could well be used for pineapple cultivation”, he pointed out. However, Chowdhury lamented over growing popularity in the rubber cultivation for money as fast as possible. “If the present trend continues, the pineapple cultivation area (1.17 lakh hectares) will surely be reduced”, he said.
Chowdhury also stressed on revival of NERAMAC factory situated at Nalakata which was established in way back 1988. “ Time has come to go for modernization of state’s biggest food processing factory at Nalkata by installing modern and scientific machineries keeping in mind of the need”, he said.
Predicting a bright future in the food processing sector in the state, Chowdhury said that the Ministry of Food Processing had agreed to set up a mega food processing unit with an estimated cost of Rs. 50 crore. “If the plan is materialized, the woes of pineapple will be over in the days to come”, he added.
Earlier, DoNER Secretary Ms Jayati Chandra in her speech underlined need to self entrepreneurship. “It is often found farmers are looking at government sponsored schemes to support them. In stead, they can bypass the tendency to become self sufficient without government support”, she said.
Principal Secretary, Agriculture KV Satyanarayan gave welcome address while Ms Indrani Kar, Dy Director General, CII passed concluding remarks.