Will pineapple cultivation make farmers rich in Trincomalee district?
 

BY S. SIVAKUMAR

"MY innovative efforts have not gone in vain. These brought me the reputation among the villagers and additional income. I am very proud to harvest pineapple fruits from my own garden, says H. D. Nissanka.

He lives peacefully in a small tiled house with his wife and one male child at 203, Van Ela located 15 km away from Kantale town in the East- North direction.

Young, courageous Nissanka had planted pineapple suckers in November 2003 in the backyard of his house and has enjoyed an additional income from the sale of fruits of first harvest in December 2004.

Pineapples contain many essential nutrients and include medicinal values such as controlling stomach worms and diarrhoea, reducing constipation etc.

This crop is predominantly cultivated in low country wet zone comprising the districts like Gampaha, Colombo, Galle and, Kalutara, and low country intermediate zone comprising regions like Kurunegala, Chilaw and Walasmulla, etc.

In general, Trincomalee district farmers believed that Pineapple is an alien crop to the district, according to the sources from the Department of Agriculture (NEP). However, hard working and innovative Nissanka dared to plant pineapple in 1/8 acre of land in the backyard of his house.

The soil type of the land is reddish brown earth. Now he and his family members are happy to harvest pineapples from their newly established pineapple crop since December 2004. Nissanka explained how he became interested in this crop and cultivated it successfully.

"Before 2003, I had a few pineapple plants under mango trees in my home garden and harvested few fruits. These were not sufficient for even my family members. As guided by the Agricultural Instructor Van Ela, I joined as a member of Trincomalee Integrated Model Farms Thrift and Credit Cooperative Societies Limited in 2002.

I applied to the Society for a loan to start pineapple cultivation in 1/8 acres of land. I received 1200 pineapple suckers in November 2003 as kind in lieu of the loan applied for. Office of the Assistant Director of Agriculture (Ext.) Trincomalee organized the supply of quality suckers from Gampaha district and provided the necessary basic advice.

"I wanted to protect the crop from pest and diseases coming along with infected suckers. Immediately after receipt of suckers, I dipped them in pesticide (Propenophos) solution for 5 minutes to control pests and the following day in fungicide (Ridomyl) solution for 5 minutes to control diseases.

After this treatment, I arranged the suckers in inverted position under a mango tree and kept them for 7 days before planting; he elaborated on the prophylactic measures he had taken to manage pest and diseases.

"In the meantime, I dug trenches with 30cm depth and 60cm width in 125cm interval for planting suckers. Then I mixed rotten cowdung with the excavated topsoil and filled the trenches with that mixture.

The filled trenches were left for one week to the completion of decomposing process; he explained giving emphasis to better land preparation and organic manure application.

"Then I planted the treated suckers in paired rows in the filled trenches with spacing of 60cm between two rows in a paired row and 40cm between plants in a row. Fertilizer application is very important for pineapple crop for getting good vegetative growth, which will determine the timely flowering and size of the fruit.

I mixed 8 kg of urea, 8.5 kg of triple super phosphate, and 17 kg of muriate of potash and applied to the base of 1200 plants at the end of the first month from planting. Thereafter I have repeated the application of this amount of fertilizer in 3 month intervals.

Meanwhile I had the problem of inadequate water in my well during the dry period from May to September to provide regular flooded irrigation to the crop.

However I used a couple of strategies and overcame the moisture stress which, otherwise, could have affected the vegetative growth, flowering, fruit formation, and its size and quality. I spread the paddy straw, transported from my paddy field, between the paired rows as mulching. This mulching worked well to conserve the moisture in the field.

"Further I wanted to establish a drip irrigation system to use the available little amount of water to irrigate the crop efficiently and effectively. But I did not have enough money to purchase a sophisticated drip irrigation system.

Therefore I purchased 1.25" dia. PVC pipe, 0.5"electricity conduit pipe, "T" socket. With these items, I established a low cost drip irrigation system laying a PVC pipe as main line and electricity conduit pipes as laterals between two rows of the plants.

Then I made holes in the conduit pipe 20cm apart in order to allow water pass through it slowly and reach the base of the plants. Thereafter I was able to irrigate my crop in 2 day intervals even during the dry period: he explained with delight on his creative, low cost innovative approach.

"I observed that almost all plants were with more than 35 to 40 leaves in August 2004 and they did not flower. Therefore I sprayed the crop with an ethereal solution to induce the flowering. Consequently almost all plants developed flowers in September 2004. In addition, I sprayed Napthol Acetic Acid to increase uniformity and size of the fruits.

The fruits matured in January 2005: Nissanka explained. "I harvested about 900 good fruits in the period from latter part of December 2004 to early part of January 2005. Squirrels damaged some fruits.

The weight of the harvested fruits ranges from 1 kg to 1.5 kg. I sold the fruits to the retail shops in Kantale and Mullipothana area on an average of Rs. 30 per fruit. In addition, I sold about 400 suckers @ Rs. 8 per sucker to another farmer. Up to first harvest I spent about Rs.25,000 to meet the cost of production on in 1/8 acre.

Since I need not spend money for purchase of suckers and drip system again cost of production will be less. I expect a harvest of 1800 fruits in the second round in January 2005 and subsequently more or less same amount of production for another 3-4 years. Further I am going to expand this cultivation during this year; Nissanka explained.

There is greater potential for growing pineapple in Trincomalee district in terms of demands for the fruits and resources needed to grow it. The farmers can get an additional income when they grow this crop. Let's hope many farmers will follow the path of the courageous H. D. Nissanka.