May 21, 2021: After having successfully exported pineapples and lemons to the Middle East, Tripura will now be sending jackfruits to the United Kingdom, Phani Bhusan Jamatia, the director of the horticulture department, said on Friday.

As part of the trial run, a consignment of 350 jackfruits was on Thursday shipped to New Delhi from Agartala for its export to the UK, Jamatiya said.

"England (set) to get a taste of Tripuras sweet jackfruits. First time Tripura is exporting jackfruit, which has huge potential. First consignment already shipped. After the state''s queen pineapples now jackfruits are also in the export list. Kudos to our Farmers, Agriculture & Horticulture Dept, state agriculture minister Pranajit Sinha Roy tweeted.

A Guwahati-based export company, which has received the contract for the overseas trade, has fixed Rs 30 as the price for a single piece of the summer fruit.

"The first consignment has been sent to Guwahati on Thursday. It will then be exported to the United Kingdom via Delhi on Friday," Jamatiya explained.

He further said that the shipment will be officially flagged off by the officials of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) from New Delhi over a video conference.

Horticulture Secretary C K Jamatia will represent Tripura in the virtual meet.

"If the trial run is successful, the Guwahati-based exporter is expected to purchase five tonne of jackfruit from Tripura every week," Jamatia said. PTI