The Philippines is taking an aggressive move to market its queen pineapple as a farmers' cooperative in Labo, Camarines Norte is aiming to export it to South Korea on a regular basis while briskly selling off an "all natural"packed queen pineapple juice to the domestic market.

The Labo Progressive Multi Purpose Cooperative (LPMPC) is carrying out an expansion from the existing 500 hectares planted to queen pineapple whose harvest is presently being used for manufacturing different products-- pineapple juice in tetra pack, pina fiber, and dehydrated pineapple. The LPMPC is also supplying its fresh pineapple to SM Naga and to Metro Manila. However, it also aims to export queen pineapple to South Korea in a more sustained basis than what has been so far done in the past.

"There are 8,000 hectares planted to queen pineapple now (in Camarines Norte), but we need volume to have a sustainable supply for export. We need to fill a van with 20,000 fruits per shipment," said Mario M. Espeso, LPMPC general manager, in an interview at its farm in Brgy. Malasugul, Labo, Camarines Norte.

The cooperative currently has a tie-up with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for a 20-hectare pineapple planting while a separate five-hectare land is being devoted as a demonstration area for Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) which it also needs in its aim to sell to the world market.

As a cooperative that has shown capability to engage in value adding, the Bureau of Agricultural Research-Department of Agriculture (BAR-DA) is extending a technology assistance for LPMPC to improve packaging of its pineapple juice which is now being marketed throughout the region.

The project involves the establishment of a facility for packing pineapple juice in pouches and in PET (polyethylene) bottles as the product has demonstrated a big potential to create a huge market.