Aizawl, Aug 24 (PTI) Six days after the first consignment of home grown pineapples was exported to Dubai, Mizoram on Wednesday sent another batch of organic pineapples to Dubai and Bahrain, an official said.
The pineapples were grown by farmers at Sialhawk village in Khawzawl district in the northeastern part of the state.
Three hundred kilograms of fresh pineapples were flown to Dubai and Bahrain, state horticulture department director Elizabeth Saipari said.
The first consignment of 230 kilograms of pineapples was displayed and sold at Dubai’s Lulu hyper market on August 21.
According to the official, fresh pineapples harvested at Sialhawk and surrounding villages, are also being exported to Assam and other neighbouring states.
Plans are being worked out to export more consignments to Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain, she said.
Around 320 families of Sialhawk, who cultivated pineapples, have harvested about 5,000 quintals of pineapples this year.
The farmers of Mizoram began pineapple cultivation in 2002 and they harvested 6,400 quintals of pineapples worth Rs 97 lakh last year.
Sialhawk village council vice president J.Rampanmawia said that the grower society has sought Central Transport Subsidy from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
He hoped that pineapples and other home grown vegetables and fruits would be easily exported to foreign countries once the transport subsidy is obtained.