The Kew variety of pineapple (commonly known as Raja) was widely cultivated and once well-known throughout Kerala for its extraordinarily large fruit and soft and succulent nature, suited to fresh juice-making.
But the variety requires around 16 months to be ready for harvest when compared to the commonly cultivated Mauritius, which matures in around 11 months. The longer maturity period and delicate nature of the large fruit, which easily spoils, have discouraged farmers from taking up its large-scale cultivation.
The fruit variety needs to be handled with great delicacy, says Baby John, a pineapple farmer at Vazhakulam. The difficulties associated with its short shelf life have brought down its demand. Raja appears to be on its way out, and a few farmers keep the plants for the sake of old times, said Mr. John.
However, the small patches of the variety continue to surprise farmers as was discovered recently by Joy Methippara near Kavakkad. He has more than a dozen plants of the Raja variety. While all the fruits weighed more than the average Mauritius, one weighed all off 5.2 kg. The fruit raised a lot of curiosity among new-generation pineapple planters, though the old hands are only too familiar with the now fading glory of the variety.
Mr. Methippara recalled that Raja used to be popular in Thrissur district, which had around half-a-dozen fruit processing plants three decades ago. The variety is suitable for jam, pulp, and jelly. However, these processing units have disappeared from the scene and so have the Raja variety.
Over the years, farmers have almost completely shifted to the Mauritius variety, which, though not greatly suitable for processing, is a favourite for fresh consumption and has bagged the Geographical Indication (GI) registration as Vazhakulam Pineapple.
John Varghese, a pineapple trader at Vazhakulam, said there was little help coming from the government, with the Nadukkara Agro Processing Company, the only fruit processor in the pineapple heartland, procuring little from the farmers. Around 30 tonnes were procured over a period of seven days, whereas the arrivals in the market range between 100 and 150 tonnes a day.
