In pineapple country, the price is the hard part

The Dongria Kondha of the Niyamgiri hills grow some of Odisha's finest organic pineapples, using techniques handed down over generations. While these sweet pineapples have longer shelf life, getting paid fairly for it is the harder climb.

On our journey to Khambasi village in the Niyamgiri hills, Odisha, our resource person, Chitti Amma, told us we were entering “pineapple country.” Her words were not an exaggeration. The moment one approaches the Dongria Kondha settlements, the landscape itself begins to speak; pineapple plants spread across slopes, jackfruit trees standing tall above them, and a glimpse of the hard-working community that has mastered the art of growing fruits in the hills.

The Dongria Kondha, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) of Odisha, are traditionally known for their hand-embroidered Kapdaganda shawls but less so for their exceptional horticultural skills. They inhabit the Niyamgiri hills of Rayagada district, where the terrain and climate are naturally suited for fruit cultivation. Pineapple is their signature crop, grown across vast stretches of the hill slopes. The Dongria plant pineapples under jackfruit trees so that the leaves provide shade to the young plants—an indigenous technique passed down through generations. Along with pineapples, they cultivate bananas, five varieties of oranges, papayas, lemon, turmeric, ginger, custard apple, and jackfruit, making horticulture a central part of their livelihood.

As the story goes, the beginning of pineapple cultivation in this region can be traced back to the Maharaja of Jeypore. When the Dongria Kondha were under his administration, they would visit the royal palace during various festivities. On one such occasion, the Maharaja is said to have gifted them pineapple suckers he had received from Burma and encouraged them to plant them in their hills. The Dongria are said to have followed his advice, and over time pineapple plants spread across every corner of Niyamgiri.

Alongside horticulture, the Dongria Kondha continue their traditional shifting cultivation, known locally as Podu Chasa. They clear small patches of land on higher hill slopes, cultivate them for a few years, and then leave them fallow to regenerate. Their rotational cycle is longer—six to seven years—because the forests in Niyamgiri are denser than in other parts of southern Odisha (Forest Survey of India (FSI)). This practice provides them with minor millets, pulses, and cereals, which form their staple diet.

Building a Pineapple Economy

A major turning point in their horticultural journey came with the establishment of the Dongria Kondha Development Agency (DKDA) in 1978–79. The agency aimed to accelerate the economic and holistic development of the tribe by providing agricultural inputs, renting machinery, supporting animal husbandry, and assisting with the marketing and processing of produce—while also understanding their culture. Dr. A.C. Sahoo, an anthropologist from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), documented their lifestyle and mapped their path to traditional horticultural expertise. While the Dongria Kondha grew pineapples for subsistence even before the DKDA arrived, Sahoo states that its cultivation was prioritised mainly to expand the community’s livelihood base through crops suited to the ecological conditions of the Eastern Ghats. Sahoo and his team travelled from village to village, spreading awareness about pineapple cultivation and its livelihood benefits, while simultaneously helping protect their land from soil erosion.

The DKDA appointed 32 Multi-Purpose Workers (MPWs) to support this transition. Each MPW was responsible for one or two villages, training people in improved agricultural practices. They also taught the Dongria Kondha in schools, introduced sanitation practices in the villages, and provided basic numeracy lessons so that farmers could sell their produce properly in markets. According to Dr. Sahoo, INR 700 was invested per acre for pineapple cultivation, covering almost 2,000 acres of land. As development progressed, the community realized that the forests also contained abundant minor forest produce such as jackfruit, harada, siali leaves, tamarind, oranges, lemons, ginger, banana, papaya, and more. To keep traders from underpaying them for it, and to ensure sustainable use and harvesting of the produce, the Tribal and Rural Welfare Department introduced the Purchase–Sale and Fair Price Shop Scheme (PSFS) in the 1970s. The scheme ensured that the Dongria Kondha received fair prices for their produce and could buy daily necessities at reasonable rates. Under this initiative, the Niyamgiri Fruit Cooperative Society was formed. A total of 480 Dongria Kondha became members by paying INR 10 each. Through the cooperative, they sold fruits at fair prices and also purchased essentials like ragi, rice, clothes, soaps, and jewellery. By the mid-1980s, Dongria families began building their own houses with government support and income from horticulture. Today, however, the condition of this cooperative is not very promising.

The Scale of Production

According to a report in MedCrave by Prof. Dr. S. N. Tripathi, “Today, organic pineapple cultivation by the Dongria Kondha spans approximately 700 acres directly in the Niyamgiri hills and about 2,000 acres across the wider Bissamcuttack block. Their annual production ranges from 28 lakh to 50 lakh pineapples or more, approximately.” However, 20–30% of the harvest is wasted due to the absence of cold storage, lack of processing units, difficult terrain, and heavy monsoon during the peak harvest months of June to August. Traders from Raipur, Cuttack, and Bhubaneswar often drove hard bargains, forcing pineapple growers to sell below fair market value and, at times, make distress sales.

To address these long-standing issues, DKDA and Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) have set up a pineapple processing unit in Chatikona village, Bissamcuttack block. Sindhe Wadaka and Pulmi Wadaka, members of the Dongria Kondha community, pointed out that because the machines were often non-functional and unable to manage the yield, they remained largely dependent on external traders. As Shasil, another community member from Khambasi village said, “It’s better to sell it to the traders as much as we can, rather than wasting the produce.” Uma Sankar, a youth from the same village, told us that they need a proper cold storage facility in the area where they can store excess pineapples and other fruits to prevent wastage. They added that a fully functioning processing unit would ensure the production of by-products as well.

 

 

 

Vani Wadeka says, “We produce a huge amount of pineapple, but there is no proper market linkage. Although our pineapple goes everywhere—be it Raipur, Rayagada town, or Bhubaneswar—we don’t get a proper price for the fruit. We sell to the traders at ₹20 per pineapple, and the labour charge I have to pay is ₹5 for each pineapple. The remaining amount in my hand is only ₹15, which is very little. A minimum price of ₹30 per pineapple would have been useful, as we have to incur so many costs.”

Near Patrapada village in the Bissamcuttack block, the community faces a different challenge. Tourists and other visitors passing through the area during the harvesting period often pick pineapples from the roadside slopes for themselves. For the individual farmers that plant and tend to these slopes, this registers as a quiet loss—fewer fruit reaching the season’s count, and with them, lesser income.

A Fair Price?

Pineapple has immense economic potential beyond fresh consumption. It is used for canned fruits, juices, jams, syrups, dehydrated products, and even bromelain extraction, which is valuable in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and meat tenderization. Odisha’s tribal belts—Kandhamal, Gajapati, and Rayagada—are ideal for pineapple-based enterprises due to their climatic conditions and biodiversity. With rising demand and better infrastructure, pineapple can transform the tribal economy immensely.

The Dongria Kondha point out that their pineapples are entirely organic, grown without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. This organic nature is not a recent intervention but a continuation of their traditional forest-based cultivation practices. Because the plants grow slowly on mineral-rich hill slopes and mature under the natural shade of jackfruit trees, the fruits develop a dense fibre structure and higher natural sweetness. As a result, Dongria pineapples have a remarkably long shelf life, staying fresh for many days even without cold storage. Traders often prefer these pineapples for long-distance transport to Raipur, Cuttack, and Bhubaneswar because they do not spoil easily.

This inherent advantage gives the Dongria Kondha a strong competitive edge in the organic fruit market. With proper infrastructure—cold storage, processing units, and reliable market linkage—their long-lasting, chemical-free pineapples could fetch premium prices and open access to high-value organic supply chains. Combined with the abundance of other forest fruits like jackfruit, oranges, ginger, and turmeric, the region holds immense potential for value-added enterprises. If supported well, these naturally long-shelf-life pineapples could become the backbone of a thriving tribal economy, generating employment, reducing exploitation, and ensuring that the Dongria Kondha continue to prosper while staying rooted in their land and traditions.

This commentary is one of many rural visits, part of the project DAOLAT (Digital Archive of Odisha’s Living Arts, Crafts and Traditions), supported by the Common Ground Initiative.

Indrani Chakraborty writes, campaigns, and investigates — often where the three overlap. Soumya Mukherji works across writing, editing, photography, and video, bringing alive the visual story; Views presented are personal.