In this regard, it will look at food processing companies to develop value-added export products.
According to S A Ravindranath, minister for horticulture and sugar, Government of Karnataka, horticulture/ agriculture department along with farmers groups have to initiate work in identifying and developing district level gene-pools that can produce grafts of jackfruit trees that give excellent fruits in different seasons.
Further, S V Hittalmani, additional director, horticulture (fruits), Government of Karnataka, pointed out that the state had been conducting jackfruit mela to provide farmers and consumers an opportunity to maximise benefits of the fruit.
"Jackfruit is considered as common man's fruit. In fact, it was this fruit which helped poor to quench their hunger. There is a need to understand the value of jackfruit," he added.
Explaining further, at a Horticulture Day celebration organised here recently, Shree Padre, an advocator of crop protection, stated, "Jackfruit, often perceived to be an inferior crop, could be the state's next major export. The fruit, if processed properly, has the potential to earn the state a lot of revenue."
Padre also highlighted the various initiatives taken across the world in exploiting commercial value of the fruit. The edible parts removed from the whole fruit are being packed and marketed locally.
"The horticulture department needs to further popularise the crop despite jackfruit's disadvantage of strong scent, size and processing difficulty. But, adoption of modern technology can give it a push," stated Padre, who has been driving the importance of the fruit to the public.
"The objective of promoting jackfruit is to get an understanding of its wide varieties, and creating a process for documentation, germplasm collection and propagation. "Grafting of the selected trees needs to be done and it will ensure that good varieties of seedlings are made available to farmers during the rainy season," stated Padre.
Meanwhile, Karnataka has taken up several initiatives like sessions on demonstration of value-added products from jackfruit, 'Importance of jackfruit' and 'Need for constituting jackfruit growers association' at the jackfruit expos organised annually.
Efforts are also on to help increase the consumption of the fruit as jackfruit farmers across the state have focussed on ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook edible parts, along with marketing the entire fruit. Marketing efforts are also on to ensure that the fruit is acceptable in non-jackfruit-growing states.
The Zilla Panchayat is also preparing Agri Vision 2025 to promote agriculture in the district. The Agri Vision is being prepared with the recommendations of the farmers' representatives from University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) and Indian Institute of Horticulture Research. It aims at developing agriculture and its allied sectors and jackfruit is one of the focus areas for development. UAS is also on the lookout for industry partners to transfer the technological know-how of processed jackfruit products.
