Pineapple Farmers Face Market Woes Despite Successful Harvest
Visakhapatnam: This year’s pineapple harvest season has concluded successfully across the tribal mandals of Paderu, G Madugula, Chintapalli and GK Veedhi in the Alluri Sitarama Raju (district, as well as in the Seetampet agency of Manyam district.
Villages such as Shambham, Kadagandi, Mutyalu Kusimi, Marripadu, Puthikavalasa, Donubai and Polla have seen robust yields. Yet, despite the promising crop, tribal farmers are grappling with disappointment as market prices plummet.
Across the ASR agency region, tribal communities cultivate pineapples on more than 700 acres, according to ASR district horticulture officer Ramesh Rao.
He said the organic nature of pineapple farming in these areas held potential to attract demand from urban markets. He also noted the presence of a pineapple processing unit in Lambasingi, where surplus produce is converted into syrup during peak harvest seasons.
Traditionally, tribal farmers sell their pineapples in local village markets and weekly fairs (Santa). Traders from nearby towns procure the fruit and distribute it to larger markets in Chodavaram, Anakapalle, Visakhapatnam, Narsipatnam, Tuni and other commercial hubs. However, the current wholesale price of `10 per pineapple and retail price of 1 25 have left farmers disappointed. They are struggling to recover their investments.
Despite cultivating pineapples on a significant scale, farmers say they receive little or no institutional support. District president of the CITU in Manyam, Ramana Rao, highlighted the neglect of tribal horticulture. Pineapple farmer, Sanyasamma, expressed frustration over the lack of marketing infrastructure: “We harvest twice a year. Most of our produce is sold to traders at weekly fairs, and the rest to tourists passing through.”
Farmers have long called for the establishment of processing units in Paderu and Chintapalli, which they believe could stabilise prices and generate additional income.
A case in point is the pineapple processing unit in Sindiba village, located in Paralakhemundi, the district headquarters of Gajapati district in Odisha, near the border with Srikakulam. Despite significant investment, the unit is operating at a loss. Some women’s self-help groups, supported by government funding, are processing pineapples and transporting products to Bhubaneswar, but report minimal profits.
Ramesh Rao emphasised the need to explore multi-purpose processing units that can handle not only pineapples but also minor forest produce, thereby offering a more sustainable and diversified economic model for tribal communities.
