Oranges hit Kerala pineapple farmers in the eye

The sharp fall in the price of oranges and the subsequent glut in the markets from western and northern States has caused the price of ‘Vazhakulam’ pineapples in Kerala to crash.

The State is one of the largest producers of the tropical fruit in the country.

On Monday, ripe pineapple was sold at ₹12/kg in Vazhakulam, said to be the largest pineapple market in Asia, and located 50 km east of Kochi.

The special green variety of the Geographic Indication (GI)-tagged Vazhakulam pineapple, which is usually bought by traders and fruit processors from other States, is priced at ₹12/kg and the green category at ₹11.

The average cost of production of a kg of pineapple is ₹17, according to Baby John, a farmer who raises the Vazhakulam variety on leased land in Ernakulam and Kozhikode districts.

This implies that pineapple farmers who have taken loans will face challenges repaying them.

In turn, this should impact the agricultural NPAs of banks.

Monday’s prices are a far cry from the record high prices the fruit commanded a little over two years ago. In the May-August 2013 period, the price of a ripe fruit had shot up to ₹52, while the special green got a price of up to ₹43 a kg.

The prices of these pineapples have been falling for weeks together. Farmers and retailers point out that the main reason is the declining prices of oranges following the heavy continuous arrivals from other States.

Oranges have always been priced high in the Kerala market, but now they are sold at ₹25 a kg by street vendors.

John confirmed that the spike in the demand for oranges following its price fall has directly hit the domestic demand for pineapple as well as its price.

He also pointed out that the increased production of pineapples and the fall in the prices of some other fruits such as bananas, had also contributed to the decline in pineapple prices.

John, a former President of the Vazhakulam Pineapple Farmers Association, estimates that there has been a 20 per cent increase in production in the current season (October to January). In the wake of receiving the Geographic Indication tag, the extra-sweet Vazhakulam variety is now extensively cultivated across the State, leading to a surge in production.

Because of the heavy decline in the price of rubber, thousands of small rubber farmers have abandoned rubber cultivation, cut the trees and leased out their lands to pineapple farmers.

This has also contributed to the over production.

John noted that pineapple processors from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States had in the past year bought some 7,000 tonnes of Vazhakulam.

“But for these buyers, the prices would have nosedived,” he said.