Jackfruit Wastage

The losses of jackfruit farmers

There is not much market demand for jackfruit, and farmers mostly sell it as value-added products such as chips or papad, as a single fruit is too much to be consumed at the household level. Though there is a huge market potential for jackfruit and its value added products, there is no organised industry for the same.

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"Unlike Banana in India or Durian in Southeast Asia, the market for jackfruit products is not extensive enough to bring in the technology.”

Cutting the jackfruit and separating the seeds is a time consuming, cumbersome, process, and doing it for multiple fruits is no easy task. However, farmers cannot afford to bring in technology to prepare the value added products due to low demand for jackfruit.

"Tropical fruits have a short life, of only 3–5 days after they are harvested. Jackfruit crop starts maturing just two months before the rainy season and the fruits ripe during the rains. In this season, the fruit develops fungus which causes 70-80% of it going to waste.

Though there are quite a few benefits to be procured from jackfruit, such as helpful nutrients as well as medicinal value, there is no organised value chain for jackfruit, and usually the whole responsibility of selling the jackfruit falls on a single farmer, which results in a lot of wastage.

Problem Statement:

How might we help jackfruit producers to create a higher demand for jackfruit in their markets, as well as help them with available technology to make the production process easier?