ICAR-CCARI to assist Goa SMEs for Jackfruit Business

New Delhi, Sept 4 (KNN) The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) involved in the Jackfruit trade will now be assisted by a team of scientists from Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CCAR) in Goa.

The help comes as a response to the lack of organized production and marketing network of jackfruit in the region despite it being rich enough to produce the fruit in large volumes.

A.R Desai, Specialist in Fruit Sciences at ICAR-CCARI in a press interview informed that the sector has a lot of potential and the small and medium enterprises can be pushed to make use of the available resource and develop as jackfruit hub for the entire country.

He further said that even the self help groups can take up the business and have a small scale processing unit to realize the profit from the crop.

Desai added that the sector is in need of assistance at the different stages including the harvesting, supply, packaging as well as marketing of the fruit.

Apart from the immediate use of the fruit, it can be further utilized for various value added products made from jackfruit including chips, jams, candies etc. With such potential available, there is huge scope for the small and medium enterprises, ICAR-CCARI asserted.  (KNN/DA)