THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vazhakkulam pineapple is all set to enter the global market with the commissioning of the integrated pineapple pack house at Nadukkara Agro Processing Company Limited (NAPCL), a State Government undertaking at Vazhakkulam in Avoly Panchayat near Muvattupuzha.
The pack house, scheduled to be commissioned in January 2010, would engage in the packing of farm-fresh pineapples, which will be later shipped to West Asian markets.
The pack house facilities include pre-cooling chambers and two storage chambers, technical features required as per the pre and post-harvest protocol for export of fresh pineapple by sea.
Nine kilograms of pineapple will be packed in a box.
‘’During the pre-cooling stage, farm-heat of the fruit is removed.
This will retard all the bio-chemical actions and the fruit will become dormant.
Then, it will be stored in cool chambers. Vapour absorption technology with very low electricity consumption is adopted for the refrigeration equipment,’’ NAPCL managing director K Sasikumar told ‘Express’.
Besides, the pack house will bring down the aberrations of pineapple during transportation.
“Presently, around 30 to 40 percent of the fruits suffer damages.
But, once it is treated and packed, the loss can be reduced to less than 5 percent,’’ he said.
Presently, majority of the West Asian markets are dominated by pineapples from Philippines and Sri Lanka.
“Now, with the pack house, we have achieved the capability to break the dominance of Philippines and Sri Lanka. We can now use our relative proximity to West Asia to ship farm-fresh pineapples to its markets faster than our competitors. This, in turn, will give our product a price advantage,’’ the managing director said. “The exorbitant air freight charges and shortage of cargo space availability is the major hurdle for the export of fresh pineapple. The transport of pineapple by ship would cost only Rs 28 per kg, but by air, it would cost four to five times higher,’’ Sasikumar said.
Presently, NAPCL is exporting only processed pineapple products such as pineapple juice concentrate.
The protocol of the pack house has been developed with the assistance of CIRAD, a French agricultural research centre working for international development. The project that costs around Rs 370 lakh is funded by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. More importantly, other exporters in the State can make use of this facility by paying a fee. “Attractive packaging and branding is a modern way of marketing fruits,’’ Sasikumar said.