Kottakkal: As buying agents stopped coming during the lockdown, the income of the people who depend on jackfruit trees was affected. Those who collect jackfruit seeds for online market and food processing units were totally affected with the lockdown as they are unable to go out for collecting the seeds.
The Jackfruit Development and Processing Society in Wayanad collects jackfruit seeds paying the highest price in the state. They had procured about 60 tonnes of jackfruit seeds from various districts till April this year. But after the lockdown was implemented, the society could procure only 2.5 tonnes of seeds.
Value added products
The society run by 105 women members has been procuring jackfruit seeds for 3 years. They have 6 collection centres. At present, they buy seeds for Rs 25 per kilogram. They make value added products from jackfruit seed such as milk shake powder, payasam mix, baby food and cake.
The society distributes processed jackfruit seeds to other companies too. They are also planning to introduce a new product named 'Jack Fresh' from processed jackfruit seeds shortly, said Saji George, project manager of the society.
