Studying the operational and financial viability of establishing a small-scale jack fruit processing plant

Abstract

All the parts of jackfruit have economic as well as health values and hence it is used for different purposes from food to fuel to medicinal uses. The primary product is fruit itself and utilised as unripe as well as mature. The fruit is highly nutritious with presence of potassium, calcium, proteins & vitamin A, B & C. Due to high levels of carbohydrates present in the fruit, jackfruit is generally supplied to regions when there is scarcity of food. We can prepare value added products from jackfruit like jelly, sweets, pickles, chips & beverages like wine, nectar & squash. The fruit pulp is highly thick in nature can be used for long period. About the market potential, there is high demand of jack fruit value added products in Middle East region. Despite all the above listed factors like nutritional value, potential value addition opportunities, there is not much progress in processing of jackfruit. The sector is still unorganised and missing the opportunity to cater the world market with potential high scope & scalability. The major reason for the issue is that there are huge post-harvest losses due to absence of proper post-harvest handling mechanism. There are no particular stats available about the wastage but as per different reports available, India is probably wasting jackfruit worth of 2000 crores each year. The difficulty in harvesting, cutting & peeling the fruit possesses more problems to farmers and it needs skill to do that. The scattered cultivation also increases the cost involved in the harvesting operations. The absence of automated grading, sorting, packaging facilities are leading to less recovery of final product. The objective behind going for processing of fruit is that consuming raw fruit with 10-15 kg weight needs 4-5 people at a time and because of the high perishability it blackens very quickly. The seasonal availability of the product is another reason that depicts catering year-round demand needs value addition. With the view of above-mentioned issues in value chain, establishing a farm level processing unit with well-planned procurement activities can help farmer in getting better price for his/her product.