The price of ripe pineapple has risen to a record ₹42 a kg in the wholesale market, triggering a flurry of activities from brisk sale of pineapple suckers to rising lease rates of potential pineapple farms. The table-ready ripe fruit is being sold at as high as around ₹70 a kg in the retail market, with some retailers even selling the fruit at a slightly higher rate.
According to pineapple farmers, the price in November is an all-time high. In November 2013, the price of ripe fruit was ₹30 a kg. In 2015, the price had come down to ₹13 a kg, while in November last year, it was ₹33 a kg. The COVID-19 years (2019 and 2020) had seen prices of ready ripe fruit ruling at ₹30 a kg and ₹21 a kg respectively.
While the green fruit price has seen much volatility throughout 2023, the price has more or less been steady for the ripe fruit, rising from ₹35 a kg in December 2022 to ₹42 a kg in November this year.
While the pandemic and the floods drew down prices, forcing farmers to abandon ready-to-harvest fields and refrain from fresh plantations, the favourable weather and market conditions are prompting them to rethink their strategy, said Baby John, a veteran farmer from Vazhakulam.
The revival of fortunes for around 5,000 pineapple farmers in the State comes after the epic floods of 2018 and the pandemic devastated the crops, said a farmer from Muvattupuzha.
Farmers also see a brisk revival in expansion of acreage under the fruit in the coming months as indicated by the rising price of pineapple suckers, which are costing up to ₹11 apiece in fields.
Similar is the case with the lease rate for potential pineapple farmers. Even though more farmers appear to be abandoning natural rubber in favour of pineapple, the rate has continued to move up. It has spiked to around ₹1 lakh an acre per year. This rate is for the best of fields in places in Meenachil taluk in Kottayam, Kanjirappally, Kothamangalam, Vazhakulam, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha, and Erattupetta where rainfall has been favourable for fresh plantations this season. The lowest rental rate is ₹25,000 an acre a year.
