Chonburi’s governor pitched the great taste of Sriracha pineapples during the 10th Eastern Flora Fair.
Organized by the province and the Eastern Flower Association, the festival that began Jan. 27 highlighted flowers, plants and fruit grown locally.
Samart Chuenwongsa, director of the Chonburi Agricultural Office, said Sriracha currently has more than 19,900 rai of pineapple orchards with an estimated harvest of 6,476 kilograms per rai that are sent to industrial sites for canning, processing and packaging.
Chonburi Governor Khomsan Ekachai is urging people to eat lots of delicious, locally grown pineapples.
The fair was organized to show off pineapple industry technology and promote consumption of the fruit. It featured exhibitions, demonstrations, pineapple jelly, pineapple curry, along with a kanomjin saonam contest and peeling competition. There were over 200 participants at the fair.
Gov. Khomsan Ekachai said pineapples grown locally are of the Batavia variety that was introduced by Chin Boonyanan of the Assumption School Sriracha.
Batavia pineapples are 4-5 times bigger than other local varieties and grow a lot faster. Every pineapple will have a label attached as “AC”, representing the Assumption School of Sriracha.
Sriracha farmers first planted the pineapples in 1957, but later, in 1962, the market crashed and the prices of the products dropped massively.
In 1965, investors established an industry to privatize pineapple production and farmers have been satisfied ever since.
