A. Satish, The New Indian Express
The seasonal jackfruit seen in abundance in trees every summer across the state is no longer the poor man’s fruit. Use of food technology and value addition has brought in a new-found acceptance for this miracle fruit with diverse jackfruit (JF)products available off the shelf across retail stores.
JF toffees, JF nutballs, finger chips, ready to serve beverage, candy bars, dehydrated flakes, cakes from seeds, JF nectar, halwa, galouti kebab and JF mappas. The list of products goes on. Shaji Elanjimattom, chief co-ordinator of the People’s Service Society (PSS) in Palakkad, said the agency has now four procurement-cum-processing centres for jackfruit. “We make value-added products from both tender and mature jackfruit that are ready to cook,” said Shaji.
The PSS has marketing support from Jackfruit 365 and Amalgam Speciality Foods, Kochi, and their sales have jumped from `18 lakh in 2013 to `60 lakh in 2014.
C P Robert, programme coordinator of the Christian Agency for Rural Development (CARD)-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pathanamthitta, said the agency has created a hub for processing jackfruit for entrepreneurs as part of a state government-funded project. “We have set up a processing unit and installed machineries for sorting, grading, packaging and quality control.”
Agencies like Group Rural Agricultural Marketing Association (GRAMA) are also in the forefront of the jackfruit revolution. “We make around 25 value-added products from jackfruit. In three days we sold products worth `20,000 at the Mananthavady fair. We are also exporting these products,” said Samkutty Kalluparambil, president of GRAMA.
James Joseph, a former director of Microsoft, who is passionate about jackfruits and has floated the firm Jackfruit 365, said they have witnessed a 10-fold increase in turnover in the last few months. “Earlier only tender, unripe jackfruits used to be transported to North India during seasons. But now we are able to create an organised market,” said James.
Source: The New Indian Express