Pepsi to raise pineapple-base food processing industry in Asom

Silchar, Nov 18 (UNI) Pepsi, the international beverage giant, and Rasna are willing to set up food processing industry based on pineapple in Barak Valley areas of south Asom.

A team comprising senior officials of Pepsi and Rasna during their visit here yesterday said setting up of pineapple-based food processing industry here is viable both in terms of infrastructure and ensured profit.

An official release said if a food processing industry is raised here it could be second largest of such industry in the world, next to one such in Thailand.

The leader of the team and former deputy commissioner of Cachar district Arun Kumar said the pineapple produced in this valley is of high quality. More than 40,000 metric tones of the citrus fruit are grown here annually.

Kumar said the present quantity of pineapple grown here could easily be increased by including more abandoned land under cultivation. Moreover, unused workforce could also be utilized in the process.

Kumar said a possible industry here would be commercially viable, because, per metric ton of pineapple could be purchased from the cultivators at a price of Rs 3,000 --- a rate is too rational for the growers; and the processing industry could market the thick juice produced from the same at a rate of Rs 60,000 per metric ton.

Apart from Kumar, the team of industrialists including M.S.

Parikh, the chief of Clean Foods Ltd, the sole distributor of Pepsi in India, P. P. Singh for Rasna, S. Madhunath of Balin Natural Food Ltd and Nihar Raj Sharma of Guwahati-based Purbanchal Food Productions held a meeting with Cachar DC Gautom Ganguli yesterday and discussed about the modalities for setting up of such an industry.

The team of officials also visited the plantation areas of pineapple in Hmarkhawlien in Cachar district near Asom-Manipur border. About 500 families belonging to Hmar tribal community traditionally grow pineapple in 1552 hectors of land.

At present the pineapple grown in Hmarkhawlien is marketed in the neighboring states of Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Bangladesh, apart from the local market in south Asom. The pineapple grown in this area is known for its high percentage of sugar in the country.

UNI XC KK AKP1347