The humble jackfruit, which is ‘’not appreciated enough by Keralites,’’ is going places. Around one tonne of the fruit was sent to New Delhi from the capital on Wednesday aboard the ‘Chakka Express’, the last bogie of train number 12625, Kerala Express.
This was done as part of the government’s initiative to promote consumption of jackfruit, which is in much demand in Delhi and other northern states, among Keralites. “This is a fruit that goes to much waste in its native Kerala,” said general secretary of Jackfruit Promotion Council (JPC) L Pankajakshan.
“This is a pity because no other fruit is as nutritious and has as much medicinal value as jackfruit. Also, in Kerala, we mostly use the ripe fruit, whereas the fruit, in its tender form, also has many culinary uses.”
Flagging off the train, Additional Director of Agriculture N Vijayan said that he hoped that the initiative would also promote jackfruit consumption within Kerala, where it goes to waste otherwise.
There is no exact knowledge of how much goes waste, according to the JPC, but assuming that 50 per cent of the fruit’s production goes waste in the country and if the price of a jackfruit is ` 3, then the loss amounts to around ` 214.4 crore. The JPC was formed “for the promotion of jackfruit in the context of food security and production of value-added products for wider consumption” after the National Jackfruit Festival held last year.
The ‘Chakka Express’, which will also have destinations at Mumbai and Bangalore, is a joint undertaking of the JPC, State Horticulture Mission and Southern Railways to transport tender jackfruit in a special wagon. Vice-president, Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat and JPC Chairman Rufus Daniel and Southern Railway Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agarwal were also present at the flagging off ceremony.
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