Bakeries, ice cream makers, shops and online buyers want pineapple products all year. Vazhakulam in Ernakulam is a major pineapple market, and when harvests peak, farmers often have to sell fresh fruit cheap.
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This unit turns fresh pineapple into dried slices and bits, jam, and pulp for bakeries and ice cream makers. Fruit is peeled, cut and dried in electric tray dryers, or cooked with sugar for jam, then packed in moisture-proof pouches and jars.
Vazhakulam, in the district's Muvattupuzha taluk, is Kerala's best-known pineapple market, and Vazhakulam pineapple carries a GI tag (a legal mark that a product comes from a named area) for its sweetness and smell. NABARD's 2023-24 credit plan lists pineapple among Ernakulam's crops and puts food and agro processing at ₹318.33 crore of credit potential. When harvests peak, fresh fruit piles up and prices fall, so a processor gives growers another outlet.
You need an FSSAI food licence, a clean processing hall, peeling tools, tray dryers, a steam kettle, a sealer and trained staff. The hard parts are keeping dried fruit crisp and free of mould in Kerala's humid air, paying for power, and handling peel and core waste, which can go to dairy farmers as cattle feed. Fruit supply swings through the year, so make and store pulp when fruit is cheap.
Sell to bakeries, ice cream makers and supermarkets in Kochi, to online shoppers, and to exporters who ship Kerala foods through Kochi's port and airport.
Why this opportunity, here
What the district has
See everything the district has, and loses, on the Ernakulam district page.
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Indicative only — final eligibility depends on promoter category, location, and the bank's credit policy. The DPR generator spells out exact subsidy quanta for your specific case.
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