Climate change, other issues continue to plague jackfruit production in Goa

Time of India

a day ago

Panaji:
In a fruitful season, the jackfruit sale ended a few days ago, fetching a good price for farmers. The wet season starting early, rot disease, and other factors, however, caused some disappointment among the farmers.
The bulky fruit's visibility — often called 'food of the future' — in market places and roadside stalls even diverted attention from mangoes. 'We almost had more jackfruits than mangoes. I even sold a bigger one for Rs 800 early in the season,' Swapnila Naik, a vendor at Neura said.
The jackfruit tree is regarded as a 'kalpa vriksha', like the coconut tree, for its multiple uses. Its consumptive use as a food has massive potential.
A hundred sweets, dishes and items can be prepared from it, according to experts, at various stages. Used as fodder for cattle and other purposes, it is gaining respect for its health benefits.
Left to rot on trees once, the 'miracle food' however, was hit by climate change. 'This year, we lost 15 peak season days due to intense pre-monsoon rain and early monsoon arrival,' agriculture director Sandeep Faldessai said.
In wet weather, rain water seepage may alter its taste and flavour. 'By end of summer, the fruit usually gets mostly consumed,' he said.
The late flowering or fruiting, though it is not exactly due to climate change, eats into the farmers' profits. Consumers are wary of the water-soaked bulbs. But more brighter days in June slightly restored the demand. 'The prices dipped to Rs 500 per piece for bigger ones,' Naik, whose roadside house turns into a mango bazaar in summer, said.
But rejuvenation of the monsoon in July saw the prices crashing again.
'Even the more popular 'kapo' variety went for Rs 100 per piece,' Naik said.
The jackfruit continued to be sold till recently, as the green spiky package of bulbs is valued as an organic fruit. The ripening is without chemicals.
Adapting a standardised technology developed by principal scientist Mathala Juliet Gupta and her team at ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa, for a ready-to-eat retort-processed jackfruit xacuti could help boost farmers' profits.
Retort processing is a method of heat sterilisation used for food preservation. 'The xacuti stored in cans at room temperature has a shelf life of one year and in retort pouches six months. It has good customer acceptance,' Gupta said.
Jackfruit processing, unlike Goa, is a multi-crore industry in some states, generating employment and many food products. The Centre has notified jackfruit as a crop for North Goa under One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme.
Goa State Biodiversity Board's successful pilot project — a multi-fruit processing unit at Pale-Cotambi — paved the way for another one at Curchorem. 'Value addition of jackfruit and other produce is done at these centres,' an official said.
A few problems, however, persist. Entrepreneurs have not shown much interest in processing. Harvesting jackfruits, even a worse problem than coconuts, becomes costly due to manpower and height of trees.
'Encouraging enterprise should be at the top of the agenda. A count and location of jackfruit trees for sourcing produce and integrating into commercial use are other aspects,' a source said.
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