Slowly, but steadily, efforts are on to create an ecosystem to meet the requirements of jackfruit-based enterprises in the country. Supply of quality jackfruits in good quantity is the major requirement for the creation of such an ecosystem.
Though there are a good number of jackfruit plants in the country, the quality of value-added products depends on jackfruits of certain varieties. Some farmers and a few non-governmental organisations are showing interest in setting up jackfruit orchards.
For instance, Gabriel Stanny Veigas (68), a former official of the Karnataka Forest Department. He has planted 650 jackfruit plants of different varieties on 10 acres at Tenka Mijar village near Moodbidri town in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, and most of these varieties are well-suited for vacuum-fried chips.
At his farm, Veigas told BusinessLine that one the reasons for planting particular varieties in bulk is that it ensures steady supply of the right quality. He plans to set up a vacuum-fried chips unit in the next two-three years.
Recalling his interactions with jackfruit-based industries, Shree Padre, Editor of farm magazine Adike Patrike and a jackfruit activist, told BusinessLine that non-availability of jackfruits of same variety in good quantity comes in the way of standardisation of value-added products.
Sunny Abraham of Famco farmers’ club in Koruthodu of Kottayam district told BusinessLine over phone that uniformity was the key. He recalled that the dehydrated raw jackfruit product marketed by his team in 2015 had been a mixture of two-three varieties, and this had come in the way of standardisation. Then some people suggested him to source jackfruit of the same variety for a particular product. The uniformity of raw material would ensure quality.
He then took up the initiative to plant a red-fleshed jackfruit variety in 2016. More than 3,000 plants of this variety have been planted in four villages since.
He said the plan is to start a farmer-producer organisation for value-added items with material sourced from these plants.
According to Padre, Kattakkode Service Cooperative Bank at Kattakkada near Thiruvananthapuram has initiated a project to plant 5,000 saplings in 11 wards of Kattakkada panchayat this year.
The project was launched with the distribution of 500 saplings on the World Environment Day on June 5.