A shipment of 1.2 tonnes of fresh jackfruit was exported from Tripura to London on Friday.

Jackfruits were sourced from the Tripura-based Krishi Sanyoga Agro Producer Company Ltd. The consignment was packed at Apeda-assisted pack-house facility of Salt Range Supply Chain Solution Ltd, and exported by Kiega Exim Pvt Ltd.

This was the first Apeda-assisted pack-house for exports to the European Union, which was approved in May.

The virtual event to send the jackfruit shipment to London was attended by officials, including M Angamuthu, Chairman of Apeda (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), and CK Jamatia, Secretary of Agriculture, Tripura.

According to a note prepared by the Department of Horticulture in Tripura, the State produces around 1.33 lakh tonnes of jackfruit a year on an area of around 5,487 hectares. It has promoted three FPOs (farmer producer organisations) for the development of jackfruit under the Centrally-sponsored MIDH (Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture) scheme.

Jackfruit grows abundantly in Tripura, Assam, Nagaland, and Meghalaya with a large number of cultivars.

It is said that monsoon season is the peak production season for jackfruit in the North-Eastern states.

Apeda statement said that the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was sent to the US from Assam recently. The iron-rich ‘red rice’ is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer. The rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan’, which is an integral part of the Assamese food, it said.

Apeda said it would continue to focus on North-Eastern region both in terms of capacity building, quality upgradation, and infrastructure development. Linking buyers to farmers, strengthening entire supply chain of agricultural produce from the North-Eastern region would bring in dividend, it added.

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