Bhubaneswar: Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has directed the officials of Horticulture department to promote and popularise jackfruit cultivation in the state.
Mahapatra gave this direction while presiding over a high level meeting on production of nutritious fruits held in virtual mode from Lokseba Bhawan recently.
“Jackfruit has high nutritional value and the agro-climatic conditions of Odisha are suitable for its cultivation”, said the Chief Secretary.
He directed the officials of Horticulture department to popularise the cultivation of jackfruit with necessary supports like good quality saplings, post-harvest processing, value addition and marketing.
Jackfruit could be branded and popularised as a superfood among the people, said the Chief Secretary. Mahapatra also directed the officials to identify suitable places, where jackfruit could be cultivated in large patches.
The officials were also asked to explore all possibilities for promoting jackfruit farming in places, where people have the traditional skill for such cultivation.
Participating in the meeting, Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena asked the officials to work out a detail plan with inputs from the thematic experts.
The experts had suggested the government to glamorise the food items processed from jackfruit through jackfruit festivals at different levels, sources said.
Additional Chief Secretary Sanjeeb Chopra apprised the meeting that Odisha is the second largest producer of jackfruit after Tripura. Jackfruit trees are found in almost all districts of Odisha.
However, around 15 districts contribute to the major portion of the jackfruit production in the state, he said.
“Jackfruit trees are mostly confined to forest areas, backyards, wastelands and roadside places with around 3.15 MT of production per annum. Out of the total produce, around 55 per cent are consumed as vegetable and around 35 per cent are consumed as a ripe fruit during festivities. As per local climatic conditions, around 50 blocks in the state are more suitable for large scale jackfruit production on commercial scale,” Chopra added.
The Chief Secretary also directed the officials of the Horticulture department to create extensive awareness on the nutritional composition of jackfruit so that its commercial cultivation would be taken up by the farmers.
He put emphasis on promoting local entrepreneurship for setting up of facilities for post-harvest processing and value addition. The officials were asked to raise the area under jackfruit cultivation in the state.
PNN