In order to supplement farmers’ incomes and generate revenue during crises such as floods or drought, experts suggested the planting of jackfruit trees and rainwater harvesting at the two-day international symposium titled ‘Jackfruit and Breadfruit in the Tropics: Genetic Diversity, Marketing, Value Addition and Marketing’.
The meet, which commenced on Thursday, was organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru. The panel stated that while rainwater harvesting presented an alternative to the conventional water storage tanks on the farmlands, the need of the hour was to find affordable methods to collect the rainfall.
It comprised G V Krishna Rau, additional chief secretary and development commissioner, Government of Karnataka; Dr P Rajendra, vice-chancellor, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Thrissur; Dr Madan Mohan, advisor, Department of Bio-technology (DBT); Dr D L Maheshwar, director, Department of Horticulture; G R Chintala, chief general manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Bengaluru, and Dr K Narayana Gowda, vice-chancellor, UAS, Bengaluru.
“Jackfruit is genetically tolerable to both floods and drought. It can be grown with little maintenance, and its fruit are highly nutritious. Therefore, farmers need to cultivate jackfruit along with other crops, because it can grow better than other fruit even if the water level in the soil is depleting. Moreover, all parts of tree are useful. The jackfruit is, in fact, the most functional tree after coconut,” they said.
Despite its huge production, the utilisation as food material is less than 40 per cent, and the remainder (valued at about Rs 2,000 crore per annum) goes waste. In order to prevent the wastage of the fruit, and to popularise the methods to completely utilise jackfruit trees, the panel highlighted not just standardisation of the ripe and tender fruit, but also the methods to make it a profitable commercial crop besides marketing opportunities in the country and abroad.
“Since the lack of water on farmlands is a crisis, there is need to budget for water in low rainfall area,” said Rau.
Source: F&B News