From Pineapple Stems to Post-Surgery Medicine
Mathew Rongmei
Dimapur
“The future of horticulture does not belong to those who produce more. It belongs to those who add more value.”
Drive along the Kohima to Medziphema stretch on the four-lane highway and you will see what Nagaland does best. Pineapple farms dot the hillsides, and during harvest season trucks loaded with sweet, aromatic fruit head out from every corner of the state to markets across the Northeast. Pineapple is a horticultural crop, and it is one of Nagaland’s strongest fruits. But once the fruit leaves the farm, we treat the rest like waste. The stems, leaves and peels are left behind to rot. That is where the real opportunity sits, because inside those discarded stems is an enzyme called bromelain, and it is already worth more in hospitals and pharmacies than the fruit is at the market.
Bromelain is not new to science. It is used to reduce swelling after surgery, to help athletes recover from injuries, to support digestion, and to speed up wound healing. It also works as a natural meat tenderiser and as a clarifying agent in food processing, and companies in pharma, nutraceuticals and cosmetics pay a premium for it. Today we grow the crop, sell the fruit quickly before it spoils, and leave the most valuable part on the ground. The problem is not production. Nagaland’s climate and soil already give us an advantage and supplies come in from all districts. The gap is what happens after harvest.
Globally, pineapple is no longer just a fruit. The pulp goes into juice, squash, wine, vinegar and dried chips. The peels are used for cattle feed, compost and biogas. The leaves are processed into Pineapple Leaf Fibre, or PALF, which fashion brands and paper mills now want as a sustainable material. And the stems are crushed, filtered and dried into bromelain powder that meets pharmaceutical standards. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region and Central Agricultural University Imphal have already shown that pineapple waste from the Northeast can yield commercial-grade bromelain. So the science exists, the raw material exists in every field, and what is missing is collection, processing and a clear market link.
This is where policy and political will matter. Chief Minister Dr. Neiphiu Rio, along with Advisor for Food Processing Achumbemo Kikon and Advisor for Industries and Commerce Hekani Jakhalu, recently inaugurated food processing units at Toluvi in Chümoukedima district. The inauguration marked an important shift, because the Department of Food Processing was only recently bifurcated from the Department of Industries and Commerce. With its own mandate now, the new department can focus entirely on value-addition, post-harvest infrastructure, and market linkages. It is well placed to take the bromelain and PALF initiative to a higher scale, from pilot units to cluster-based enterprises across the state.
This matters because when every part of the plant earns, farmers earn more without needing more land. Instead of one sale and one price, a single pineapple can support multiple incomes. It also cuts post-harvest loss, because stems and leaves bought at the farmgate become an asset instead of a burden.
Our neighbors are already moving. Tripura secured a Geographical Indication Tag for its Queen Pineapple and is now planning bromelain and PALF units. Nagaland can build its own path with what we have: distinct flavor profiles, organic practices, and proximity to Southeast Asian markets. The first step would be scientific profiling of Nagaland pineapple for sugar-acid ratio and aroma, so we can document it for a future GI Tag and a “Naga Gold Pineapple” brand that buyers can trust.
We do not need to start with large factories. The smarter way is to begin with small and medium units near the clusters. Pilot hubs in Dimapur and Chümoukedima, close to production and the highway network, could house common facilities for juice and dehydration, a pilot line for stem-based bromelain extraction, a PALF decortication unit, and cold storage. Farmer Producer Organisations can collect stems and leaves at the farmgate for a fixed price per kg, turning residue into cash and securing raw material for processors.
At the same time, the Department of Food Processing, working closely with the Department of Horticulture, can act as a single-window cell to help MSMEs access schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme, the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries, and funding support from the North Eastern Council. They can also partner with the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management and the Central Food Technological Research Institute for technology transfer in small-scale purification.
An MoU with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region and Central Agricultural University Imphal to set up a “Bromelain Field Lab” in Nagaland would let us test methods locally and train students and entrepreneurs at the same time. And to make the business real, we need to engage buyers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore who already use bromelain for post-surgical care and inflammation management, while also promoting Nagaland PALF to designers and export houses. Support for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India certification, organic certification and export clearance will complete the loop.
If we collect and process even 30 percent of available pineapple stems, the numbers start to look serious. It could support 10 to 15 MSMEs, create more than 500 skilled jobs, and add a new income stream for around 5,000 farmers within five years. But beyond the numbers, it changes how we see horticulture. We stop being only sellers of raw fruit and start becoming producers of medicine, fibre and value-added foods.
The pineapple has always worn a crown. For Nagaland, that crown can now stand for innovation, jobs and sustainable growth. The wealth does not end when the fruit is sold. In many ways, that is where it begins.
