Jackfruit sells, and how!

Jackfruit, the king of fruits, is tasty as well as nutritious. Come summer, and the fragrance of the fruit emanates from every home in the villages of Sirsi. The Malnad region is known for a variety of delicacies made out of jackfruit. But the fruit has hardly been tapped for its commercial potential.

Kadamba Marketing Cooperative at Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district has driven home the commercial importance of jackfruit. The Cooperative has taken up the marketing of jackfruit papad in a big way. Kadamba Marketing had, last year, supplied 70,000 jackfruit papads under the brand name of Mayura. This year the demand has been such that the cooperative is striving to supply 1.5 lakhs of papads.

Traditionally, jackfruit papads have been prepared in villages in the region, devoid of marketing strategies. The cooperative provided training to the members of self-help groups to prepare jackfruit papads.

Kadamba has purchased 35,000 papads from those who prepare them, paying them Rs 60-70 for every hundred. A single family in Jaddigadde village has provided as many as 12,000 papads. A self-help group of Achave village has supplied 10,000 papads to Kadamba marketing ever since the jackfruit season began, says manager Vishweshwar Bhat.

It is difficult to meet demands and Kadamba is ready to purchase any number of papads if the quality is maintained. Along with papads the cooperative sold three quintals of jackfruit chips, he added. Over the last two years, the cooperative has held a special mela for jackfruit and preparations made out of it.

S L Jagadish, assistant professor of Arabhavi Kittur Chennamma Horticulture College, points out that there are around 300 types of the fruit.

In the Western Ghats, the flesh of fruit are soft whereas in the plains, the flesh is harder. Jackfruit products are very profitable, he explains. An organised production and marketing system should be established to make the fruit commercially viable, he adds, pointing that the fruit would then beat other fruits like mangoes and bananas.