On 24th July 2014 at the Pineapple Garden in Tambol Thepkasattri, Thalang, Phuket, Phuket Governor – Khun Maitree Intusut presided over an event entitled Phuket Pineapples Tourism Day. The event was also attended by Chief of Phuket Provincial Agricultural Extension Office – Khun Sanit Polpattapee, Khun Sompong Panthong from the Phuket Agriculture and Cooperative Office, head of government agencies, pineapple plantation farmers and tourists.
Khun Sanit said “Phuket Pineapples are an important and good crop of Phuket. The Phuket Pineapple has been registered as a geographical indication with the Department of Intellectual Property Ministry, as it has a unique feature unlike other pineapples. There are currently 56 pineapple farmers cultivating a total of 2,530 rai of Pineapple farmland. These farmers produce around 12,106 tonnes of pineapple per year worth 167.06 million baht. However, the farmers started to find that there were productivity and marketing problems, and that the Phuket Pineapple was starting to lose its popularity because of this. In view of this, the Phuket Provincial Agriculture Office allocated 1,138,000 baht in budget to help with the development, production and marketing off the Phuket Pineapple, along with other items.
“Using part of that budget, Phuket Agriculture and Cooperative Office recently held a Phuket Pineapples Tourism Day to help promote the pineapples, and so that consumers and tourists get to know more the product.”
Source: Phuket Index