Pineapple expressway: ‘Queen’ fruit that rules Tripura to enter global stage

With over 12,000 hectares dedicated to the cultivation of the fruit, pineapple is serious business in the northeastern state of Tripura. It is no surprise that then-President Ram Nath Kovind declared the humble queen pineapple as Tripura’s state fruit in 2018. Now, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) looks to commit over ₹132 crore to promote Tripura’s queen pineapple on the global stage.

The state government of Tripura has been looking for avenues to expand the reach of its ‘queen’ variety of the fruit for some time now. And the latest move by the DoNER ministry is expected to help matters, after it took note of the proposal it received from the state ministry.

Tripura produces at least 1.77 tonnes of pineapple a year. Organically grown queen pineapples in the state are expected to have a robust demand in global markets, especially with the latest push for healthy and chemical-free produce. Phani Bhusan Jamatia, Director of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department in Tripura told agencies that the state’s Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath held an online meeting with DoNER Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and other officials on Thursday in this regard.

“In the meeting, our minister highlighted the unique taste, flavour and nutritional value of the [queen] pineapple, which makes it highly marketable globally,” added Jamatia.

However, organically grown fruit is easily perishable. And pineapples tend to spoil in six to eight days. This calls for exploring techniques in preservation that do not involve harmful chemicals. According to the official, the state government in Tripura might consider “safe hormonal treatments to extend freshness”.

The importance of Queen Pineapples 

Queen pineapples of Tripura are harvested from May through mid-August. Apart from preservation techniques, the government is also looking at processing and packaging options to extend the life of the fruit. Agartala already has an integrated packaging facility, according to Jamatia, with another one expected to be ready in Nalakata in a month.

The union ministry has also pushed for using the latest in agri-tech to improve the yield and quality of pineapples. These include drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and an array of IT tools.

Apart from queen pineapples, the other variety available in Tripura is the ‘kew pineapple’. While queen pineapples are spiny, golden yellow in colour, and weigh around 600 to 800 grams (TSS content at 10° to 14° brix), kew pineapples are spineless, juicier, and significantly larger at 1.5 to 3kg (TSS content at 8° to 12° brix).

However, the queen rules. “The queen pineapple variety produced in Tripura is not just distinctly special in comparison with other varieties grown elsewhere in India but also significantly different in quality from the same variety grown in other adjacent states of North East,” according to a study in the International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Biotechnology (IJAEB), “It is the most popular and excellent cultivar of Tripura for fresh consumption.”

Pineapple farming in Tripura is also consistent with local beliefs. According to Tripura farmers, ‘pineapple never betrays’. When other crops failed due to unexpected changes in climate or weather cycles, pineapple’s penchant for being a viable crop that survived more odds meant it provided generations of Tripura farmers with consistent income year on year. Moreover, demand hasn’t waned. Queen pineapple was ₹2 apiece in 2018. In 2024, it soared to ₹32 per fruit—sixteen times its price six years ago!

Despite Tripura being a designated Agri Export Zone (AEZ), a chunk of its considerably small exports outside the country go to Dubai and Muscat. Recent geopolitical developments in Bangladesh added to export woes, adding to the wastage of the fruit. The latest move by the DoNER ministry and the state government is expected to cut the distress in surplus queen pineapple production.

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