THE plight of a farmer who is distributing free pineapples to the public in Prachuab Kriri Khan province because the factories won’t buy his crop spurred the Commerce Ministry into action with provincial officials told to check whether this is true and to help him, Thai News Agency said today (May 5).
Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, Commerce Ministry Permanent Secretary, said last Wednesday (May 3) a meeting was held by the Trilateral Commission for the Promotion and Development of Pineapple with representatives from farmers, factories and concerned government agencies joining in to resolve the pineapple price problems.
The meeting found that the reason this fruit is fetching low prices right now is due to factories having large stocks which they are unable to liquidate because overseas orders have dropped together with a lot of the produce entering the market right now.
Moreover the both hot and rainy weather led to new crops of pineapples not being in the grade factories require.
The commission asked the factories to maintain the prices of large pineapples at 5 baht a kilogram for 15 days and ensure orderly purchasing queues while the farmers were urged to only harvest quality pineapples as required by factories and reduce using chemical fertilizers when harvest is underway.
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Top: Plants bearing ripe pineapples. Photo: Ian Gratton (CC-BY-2.0)
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