Farmers are looking at the potential of a pineapple variety, which is yet to be named locally and touted as “very sweet”, suitable for mechanised processing and possibly with shelf life longer than the conventional Mauritius variety widely cultivated in the State.
What has drawn the attention of farmers to the new variety is the possibility of mechanised processing for value addition and export. The Mauritius variety cannot easily be processed. The loss from processing can be as high as 35% to 40%, said a pineapple researcher. But it has other features like being more hardy, making it easy to handle while being dispatched to markets in other parts of the country.
A veteran farmer in Muvattupuzha said that the fruit is larger and weighs around 2.5 kg to 2.7 kg. Its shelf life is to be tested. Only wider cultivation and testing can lead to a firm conclusion on its merits, he added.
