Khasi Hills Pineapple Fruit East Khasi Hills Meghalaya

Meghalaya is India's third-largest pineapple producing state with cultivation concentrated in the East Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills districts around Nongpoh, Sohra, and Jowai at elevations of 900 to 1200 metres. The variety grown is primarily Kew (also called Smooth Cayenne), India's most commercially important pineapple variety — large cylindrical fruit with golden-yellow flesh, high juice content, and a balanced sweet-sour flavour suitable for fresh consumption and canning. A locally preferred indigenous variety (Queen pineapple) is also grown in smaller quantities for its intense fragrance and sweeter concentrated flavour. Khasi Hills pineapple is grown as a rainfed crop on hilly slopes using a soil preparation technique unique to the region — terrace cultivation with grass-mulch weed suppression between rows. Ratoon cropping (allowing side shoots from harvested plants to produce the next crop) is standard practice in Meghalaya, giving 3 to 4 harvests from a single planting before replanting. Pineapple is harvested when the fruit develops the characteristic yellow base and is transported by truck to Guwahati, Kolkata, and northeast Indian markets. Meghalaya Pineapple Growers' Cooperative markets to organized retail. FSSAI-compliant pineapple pulp and juice processing units in East Khasi Hills produce canned pineapple for domestic market. Post-harvest loss from bruising in transport is a significant problem being addressed through improved packaging and cold-chain trucks.