Author(s): B. DAS, K. K. DAS AND T. N. ROY

Abstract: Pineapple [Ananas comosus (L) Merr.] is an 1111pur1w11 rropical }i\"uit that shares about 50 per celll olglobal.fi·uil market. IYorlchride. 82 countries produce pineapple in economic quanlilies 011 abolll 950 thousand hectares and Brazil is the highest pineapple producing cow1/1y in the world which shares about 14 per cenl !Jl world pineapple ./i\"uil production. C11/1iva1ion ()/\'pineapple is introduced in lndw only 4-5 decades ago and ii has ve1y liltle significance in terms ()/area coverage (about 1% oflo/a/}i\"uil area) in the coun/I}\'. India. having about 84 thousand hectare under pineapple cu//11•a/io11. shares abo1118.42 per cenl ()/\'world pineapple area and 6.5 per cen/ ()/\'pineapple produclion. Thisfh1il is grown in stales like Assam, Aieghalaya, Tripura. Aiizoram, Akmipur. :\\\'agaland. Wes/ Bengal. Kera/a. Karna/aka and Goa on a large scale. IVes/ Bengal is an gro\\\\ ing region in the slate shares about 3.34 per cenl of 101a/ji-!1il area and 4.27 per cent produclion in /the. fl con1nbules around 24 per cent ()lcounlry ·s lo/al pineapple production and .Vorth Bengal provides the ma/or bulk !Jl lhis. U11ar (:\\\'onh) Dinq/pur and Dar/eding are pineapple growing districts in the state and an Agri-D:por/ Zone on pineapple is in operation in this zone 10 induce the farming folk /011·ards the avocation. Time series ana(rs1s explores that growth and progress ()(pineapple cullivalion in the cow1/1y is 1101 encouraging al all. Area under pineapple in the cowllly 1s increasing non-signifrcanlly a1 0JI09 per cent per annum and its production 1s increasing (a/so non-signifrcanl/y) al 0.017 per cenl per . In contras/ lo the general /rend, both area and prod11clion ()/\'pineapple in two 1110s/ imporlanl pineapple growing dislricls in Wes/ Bengal are increasing al signilicanl rate. But the progress is much below the expected level due lo some inherent conslrainls ll\'hich are analyzed.

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